Thursday, April 09, 2009

You Know You Live in a Small Town When...

...FedEx delivers a package to you by mistake, and you carry it to your neighbor's on your way to the Post Office. No one is at home, so you call on your cell phone and leave a message on her voice mail, then take the package with you. When you get to the Post Office (just moments later) you are greeted with "Valerie's off the island today. She'll be back this evening."

I was dumbfounded. It had only been a couple of minutes since I was at her door. How did he know? Then again, I wasn't too surprised. When you live in a small town, it's best to get used to the fact that life is like living in a fish bowl. Not that that's a bad thing. It's how we look after and care for one another.

In our latest Ocracoke Newsletter I share information about our many local cemeteries, with examples of some of our more interesting epitaphs. You can read it here.

To read about Philip's new book, Digging up Uncle Evans, History, Ghost Tales, & Stories from Ocracoke Island, please click here.

2 comments:

  1. I just stumbled upon your blog...WOW is all I can say. I am a huge fan of all things Ocracoke and miss it greatly. Thanks for doing such a wonderful job with this site.

    And yes...that is so true about small towns.

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  2. Anonymous9:36 PM

    Hello Philip! I love your story. Yes, it is so true of small towns. We live in a small community (mostly family) and we all pretty much take care of each other, too. The people I work with have a hard time understanding why we feel comfortable leaving our doors unlocked, or why we don't mind helping get the neighbor's cow back in the pasture. Like you folks on Ocracoke, it's just what we do.
    Have a wonderful Easter!
    -Mandy Davis
    Ranburne, AL

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