On the Verge of Adulthood

My perception of my (our) situation constantly changes. This is an easy place to stereotype. It's ripe with down-homeisms and the GOB way of gitin'erdone. But that also means that people here are genuinely nice. For every aspect of Grangeville that annoys me, there is one that I secretly like.
I wasn't sure what I would do here. How can I pass the summer in rural Idaho? Library, Lazlo, helping Keith at the club, photohunting. Then there was a position advertised; that sounded like a good place to start: Mental Health Worker. Okay, what does a mental health worker do in Idaho? And what do they have to deal with? Apparently, with the same problems as in every other town. My first adult? job...post-degree. (I feel like this qualifies for me to apply to be an Adult, but maybe I can lie and say my dog ate that paperwork.) I start training next week and it sounds like I will be working with kids a lot,which is a little strange. I have limited experience with children in general, let alone children who live in dysfunctional families and need a Mental Health Worker. I think this will be a very life-educational summer.

I'm excited to be here. It kind of pains me to admit it. I told the people who interviewed me, after accepting the position, that Keith and I had talked about the possibility of living here year round. ?!?!?!!?? What has come over me?

We moved into our little house yesterday. We're keeping it minimalist and it's nice. Our perspectives of what is comfortable and what is necessary have shifted a little since our trip to Mexico. Keith's still trying to decide where he can hang his hammock. The metal stall shower's hot water handle gets so hot you need a pot-holder to turn it off. We live next to a taxidermy shop! Let's Learn About Grangeville

• Ammunition is displayed in a storefront window. Of a "Saddle Company."

• Our radio in the bathroom receives 3 stations: the God Station, the Christian Rock Station, and the Country Station. Oh, and NPR. Okay, 4 stations.

• Reception is somewhat better out on the prairie. Then you can also get Top40 and Oldies.

• Grangeville is the Idaho County Seat; the town's population is >5,000.

• Idaho County is the largest in Idaho.

• The Ten Commandments are on the Idaho Co. Courthouse lawn.

• Grangeville Golf & Country Club is the only one in the county.

• A preacher's wife rents to both the country club manager and a Sheriff.

• A coffee shop on Main St. also sells crickets. By the dozen or two dozen.

• The Chinese restaurant on Main Street will soon be serving Thai, Vietnamese, and American food instead. (Pad Thai with Tofu?! Dare I dream??)

• Across from the grocery store is The Phone Store (& More) and The Gun Ranch.

• Just outside Grangeville, a juvenile woolly mammoth was unearthed near Tolo Lake.

• Border Days, held annually over the 4th of July, is "Idaho's Oldest Rodeo." Big doin's.

• Smoking is still allowed in one bar called The Establishment. And everyone must be 21 to enter. "This go's for dogs and horses, too."

• Here, your skill in being polite is more important than anything you say or do.

• Remember, not everything needs a response. 70% of your conversation will be rhetorical.

• Tickets to the Blue Fox Theater are $6 for adults. Only one showing, at 6:30p, on Mondays and Tuesdays. (This is where Brokeback Mountain played a couple weeks ago.)

• Hopefully today we are getting wireless at the club; I think it will be Grangeville's first public wifi hotspot (unconfirmed).
  

So I may have been over-dramatizing earlier when I alluded to the fact I would surely be crushed under the weight of the despair of Living in a Small Town. It's really not so bad. There's no such thing as anonymity, and I guess that's the one big drawback. But otherwise we're getting along just fine. So far.