Growing up in a small town in central Mississippi, I knew just about everyone and everyone knew me. For this reason, it was absolutely impossible to get away with anything because everyone also knew my Mama’s phone number. When I was a kid, I used to dread going grocery shopping with my Mom because she would inevitably run into various friends or family, and the already tenuous task of meandering through grocery aisles would become that much longer while they chatted and laughed about various topics.
I think for the most part, both my family and I assumed that I would live my days in my hometown, but in college, I felt God leading me towards other places. After finishing physical therapy school 4 years ago, Dan and I set off to Seattle without jobs or plans aside from an unpaid physical therapy internship for myself in a state I’d never seen. We initially lived in Bellevue to be near my internship, but found Sanctuary a few weeks after moving here. We began making the trip across the bridge to Greenwood where friendships and community were being formed and cultivated. It didn’t take us long to realize that we would rather commute to work than commute to our friends, so we moved to Greenwood to more fully connect to our community through relationships and through an Americorps position for Dan at the Greenbean.
Over the past 4 years, I have grown to appreciate people and place in a way that I feel I took for granted growing up in my hometown. To know others and to be known is a gift in and of itself as one navigates the ups and downs of life. Several of our friends have recently gotten married and we have been able to share in their joy and to be a part of this special season of their lives in unique ways. Others have lost jobs and loved ones and we find ourselves walking through those days with them as best as we can. Now that I work in Greenwood at a clinic within walking distance of my house, I find myself submerged in my neighborhood, meeting new friends and neighbors on a daily basis.
I thought upon moving to Seattle, that I was going to live in a “big city” and do “big city” things, whatever those things were. But I think I’ve managed to find a small town in my big city and settle in well enough so that when I drag my kids to the grocery store some day, they will roll their eyes and drag their feet as I catch up with you in the grocery aisles, on the street walking to the library, or in line for coffee at the Green Bean.
Amy Moses