I’ve lived in the hills of Eastern, Ky my whole life. Yes, I actually do live back in a hollow located in Inez, Ky. A lot of people look down on small town living, but not me. I love where I live! It’s a quaint little town with only 2 stop lights and the nearest Walmart is 30 minutes away. There isn’t a whole lot to do in our tiny town. However, we have a few amazing restaurants, a community center with a movie theater, a small lake, a few parks, some breathtaking views especially when you’re hiking, a top notch library, an airport and several small businesses. In Inez, you will also find churches on almost every corner.  Where we live is mostly one or two lane roads. Everyone waves when they pass you on the road. It's a friendly little town, and almost everyone knows each other. But none of this is What I love Most About Small Town Living.

When you think of small towns, most people associate it with everyone knowing your business. Some may even think of everyone being narrow minded. While some of that may be true, the good far outweighs the bad. What I love most about small town living is the sense of community. When a person is down on their luck, we all pitch in to help. Recently one of my best friend's son Austin was diagnosed with Anaplastic Ependymoma, it's rarely seen in adults. The tumor is mostly only seen in children. He had to undergo an 18 and a half hour long surgery to remove the cancerous tumor that was causing him not to be able to walk. They wasn't able to get all of the tumor because it was too close to his spinal column and nerves. So, he is currently undergoing radiation for that. He is still unable to walk, but the strength in his legs has improved with the surgery and physical therapy.

Austin has been in the hospital since the first part of May and is currently still there. I went through long hospital stays when my mom was battling cancer and I know how hard and trying that is. If it wasn't for the help of God, our church and many good friends; we wouldn't have made it through such a hard time. So, some friends and I came up with some fundraiser ideas to help Austin and his family out in their time of need. First, we came up with a Sweets Auction Idea. I never dreamed in a million years that little idea of a sweets auction would do so well. Everyone wanted to pitch in and help. Several people donated sweets. We also had local businesses donating items for people to bid on such as clothing items, sno cones, homemade gifts &etc. The sweets auction far exceeded my expectations with success. We also held a cruise-in car show. We had items that people had donated for us to raffle off, a sno cone booth set up, and grilled hot dogs to sell. The cruise-in did wonderful too, despite the rain. I was so surprised to see what a good turn out we had when it literally poured rain moments before the car show.

I'm not exaggerating when I say the whole community pitched in to help, they honestly did! You see, when one of us from a small town hurts, we all hurt. We all join in to pray for one another, we put them on prayer chains, we get them prayer cloths, and we all try our very best to help each other. Another one of my friend's husband was injured at work and has been in the hospital most of the summer. He has been very very sick. I have seen the whole community join together to help this family out too. We don't pick and choose who we help in their time of need, we help everyone. Our little town is far from perfect. There are a lot of things that we don't have, but he have big hearts and we always want to help one of our own. Churches even join together to pray and help out, everyone does a little something to contribute to helping out someone in their time of need. So yes, what I Love Most About Small Town Living is the sense of community and caring hearts that you won't find in a big city. Below are some photos of the beautiful streets of downtown Inez, Ky.
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