The Little Things

copyright Nicole Burgess

Very few people will argue that it is the little things in life that add to the quality of ones life. I find that is also true of where one lives. It is the little things that we often take for granted that make our communities so special.

Coming originally from Southern California where life is lived at a much faster pace, one of the first things that shocked me and at the same time gave me a very good feeling about moving to the Midwest was the grocery store. It wasn't so much the physical store but the kindness with which one is met in the grocery store. 

People smile, say hello and on occasion strike up conversations with complete strangers. When I first moved to South Dakota Sunshine and HyVee, the two larger grocery stores in eastern South Dakota both provided their customers with a service that completely shocked me. The 'sacker' not only bagged your groceries but they then would push the full shopping cart to your car and load the groceries into your car. While they don't all do this now they do offer drive up service where you can leave your shopping cart with the clerk and drive to the drive up where store personnel will then load the groceries into your car. Now that is service!

Then when I found out HyVee was open 24 hours a day. I was in heaven! Ok, so maybe most people don't like to go grocery shopping at 2am. But when you are a night owl and tend to get the munchies at 2am for anything that ISN'T in your house, an all night grocery store is heaven sent. 

When Nicole contributed this photograph  I was immediately reminded of how special it was to live near a HyVee grocery store. Being away from the Midwest now for two whole months I am shocked at how much I had come to take these things for granted, after 18 years in the Midwest.