Karla’s Korner: Living Life Locally….It’s A Personal Experience

I am proud to introduce a new column to Madame Deals! I think we all need a touch point a place we can go to be inspired. Karla is my children’s teacher, a good friend, and a person with a heart of gold. I hope that her words will inspire you to do more. We are only as good as the people we surround ourselves with. It is important to listen with your heart and proceed with your eyes open. Enjoy!

Living Life Locally….It’s A Personal Experience

I live in a relatively rural area and for the most part I like it. Life in the “country” is a bit more simplistic and less hectic. Even though I live in a rather large gated community, I find that there is something tranquil about living in a place where even though there are neighbors a plenty, there are no street lights which means when it’s dark outside, it’s dark! I love that. I grew up in a rural area and cherish the memories of my childhood when we would sit outside and enjoy the fireflies and watch the stars without the luminescent glow of street lights or other distractions. As a matter of fact, I slept in a completely dark room without a night light. My mother put a nightlight at the bottom of the stairs in case we had to get up for a potty run in the middle of the night, but other than that, it was dark. Even now I enjoy sleeping in total darkness; as do my children.

Life in a small town has great advantages especially for someone like me who works in the same community. A trip to the grocery store, hair salon, bank or movie store means that I will run into at least three people that I know. There’s something to be said about knowing your neighbors and knowing those who work in your community. Just the other day I had a small issue with a prescription I needed to have filled at the locally owned independent pharmacy. Knowing that my insurance requires that I use a mail order pharmacy on all maintenance drugs I feared that I would have trouble filling the much needed pain medication that I will now be taking on a daily basis for my knee. Explaining my situation to the pharmacist and assuring her that I would be sending a 90 day prescription to the mail order pharmacy but needed to fill the first one with her so that I could relieve the pain I was experiencing, she immediately offered to sell the prescription to me for what my insurance would cover and “eat” the difference. I walked away feeling blessed and cared for, which is something that doesn’t always happen in the bigger chain stores.

Life today is so full of impersonal events we often find ourselves out of touch with personal more intimate relationships. For example, had I used another chain type pharmacy, my doctor would have faxed or e-mailed the prescription (which she did to my local pharmacy) I would have been able to pull up to a drive through tube, conversed with someone through a speaker and received my medication all without personal contact. In my community there has been a big “push” to buy local and when I first heard this I wondered if buying local would prove beneficial. Sometimes buying from the big box stores saves money but after my recent experience I am sold on spending more of my time and money in my
local community. With gas prices as high as they are I am sure I will in the end save money and time by not going to the nearest city to shop. Less travel means less gas and less gas means more money saved and more time spent doing what I want to do.

With our economy in disarray lately and the cost of living high and often out of control, I encourage you to stay close to home and enjoy the local hospitality. Whether you live in the country, the city or somewhere in between planting yourself in your own community and becoming familiar with your surroundings you might find yourself with a bit more money and time on your hands to enjoy the most important things in life….family, friends and home.

Peace,
Karla

Check out all of Karla’s Korner articles here.

Also, please visit Karla’s Lifetime Moms page and read her articles.