G.K. Chesterton: “Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.” (Orthodoxy)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Its a quiet Sunday on campus. Two and some years ago I experience my first Sunday here in Beaver Falls. I can't remember much about it...I think I went to some corporate RP service held in our gym on campus. Everything was so new, I knew of nothing outside of my apartment and the few classrooms I had had classes in. Here I sit beginning in on my third and final year as a student and I realize how connected I am to this community.

I have friends both on campus as well as from the community. I've been regularly attending a church for about a year and half where people at least know my face.I know the layout of the town as well as some of the surrounding Beaver County. I can make accepted jokes now about the "Beaver River", the booming Friday night events, and the people that call this place home. I've worked in downtown Beaver Falls and have made my face known to the community.

I love this place. I don't know if it is because of the people I have here, although I suspect that could be a major possibility. There is also that part of me that loves the flavor of the culture. Small town USA, western PA feel, everybody knows everybody, pretending city...its all here, all present in the atmosphere. There is also the weird split between College Hill and downtown...almost two different towns, joined by basically only a name.

So here I sit. Remembering how far I've come in this community and wondering where I will be sitting next year at this time. Will there be enough here to keep me here? Will I be enticed by some other community, with a job offer, with a relationship, with family, with adventure? Will I have to begin the church hunt again? Will I have to meet a whole new set of people, learn new jokes, find local hang out spots? At this point I have no idea. I know that I love change but I'm also beginning to fear loosing all that I've gained here in the last few years.

Maybe someday I will be able to say "I came here in '07 and never left" or maybe I will say "I lived in BF for about 3 years...does the such and such still exist?".
For now I will relish moments of reflection like this...enjoying the fact that for now I'm living here and that I have a community of people and places that I love.

Until the muse strikes again,
Kettie
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