The Dollar General

When I lived in Nashville, I had no idea how awesome the Dollar General was. I remember a woman who so thoughtfully would buy my baby clothes every time she went in there and I wondered: what's the draw here?

Well, let me tell you, when I moved to Arbuckle Creek 3 1/2 years ago, there was no Dollar General. In fact, there was nothing. It was a 10 minute drive into town to the grocery store, etc. If you forgot something on your "run" into town, you were out of luck. But now, NOW, we have the most amazing store -- Dollar General. Some of the people who had lived here for a long time didn't think it would go over really well. Boy were they wrong. They were at the tops for sales because people like me forget milk or toilet paper or some other necessity. And a bunch of 90-somethings who are still driving out here feel comfortable driving the .25 miles to the Dollar General so they can get out of the house and "browse." I love it because it is right next door to the church so we can skirt over there for batteries if the lapel mike shorts in the middle of worship. You see, it's all about conveniences. Does it have variety? No. Today I took the girls out to shop for binders for their spelling work this year and their choices were: white, black, blue, purple, or green. None of the fancy characters plastered on the front. No trapper keepers (remember those?!) No cute little kittens hanging from a tree with catchy phrases. But you know what, they truly don't need the variety. And if they do, we'll pick up a stylish polka dotted folder or notebook next time we go into town. It's not like we are SO far from civilization that we can't shop when we want to, it's rather just nice to know that we don't HAVE to enter civilization to grab a few necessities.

And so the kids around here tend to wear similar clothes -- one of 3 pairs of Dollar General shorts or a screen printed T-shirt with some flashy saying on it. But their parents only spent $10 for the outfit rather than $30 for a T-shirt. It's a lesson for me in "place." What we expect of each other and even of ourselves is relative to the location in which we live. I currently live in Arbuckle Creek where I realize we'll always be 10-15 years behind the cities in terms of what the congregation is interested in or what the children wear or play with. Kids here still appreciate bicycles and trampolines. They like to be outside on the basketball courts. And adults, well, because of location, the older ones want to have their own fishing boat or attempt to better themselves in golf. The younger ones just want a stable job with decent childcare. Rarely do you find anyone willing to run themselves into the ground for the sake of a new car (unless it runs on the racetrack here or unless it's a monster truck) or an Armani suit. People here are down-home with hopes to make some friends along the journey we call life.

So this is the news from Arbuckle Creek, where all the women drive golf carts, the men are blatant carnivores, and the children watch for alligators in their backyards.