[Sable99]

I don't have quite the same memories.

I grew up on a farm and our neighbors were about a quarter mile away. There were other kids in the area that we got to visit with our bikes. My alarm clock was usually the sound of the John Deere tractor in a nearby field very early in the morning.

I went to school in in Britton which was the closest village and probably 8 miles away. The village didn't have 1,000 people and my graduating class was 49!! At that time, it was the biggest class ever!!

We always got groceries and other supplies in Adrain which was about 15 miles away! So, we had to take the car. Mom and I live in Adrian now which has about 25,000 residents. (Imagine my shocker when I moved home after living in the Washington, DC area for 26 years!)

We had fun though. We had a huge side yard. In the summer, all the neighborhood kids came to play baseball in our yard. We didn't have enough for two teams so we took turns. Our cocker spaniel was our outfielder!! In the winter, Dad flooded the yard so all the kids could ice skate in our yard.

Britton is still small. So small that they consolidated our school with our arch rival! How sad!