I found my home in small town

I found my home in small town

Different people say different things about small towns. It all comes down to where you are coming from and your own experience. Many people that are born and raised in a big city can never imagine moving to a small town and that holds true for people that grow up living in a small town. No doubt, it’s a big adjustment and a huge change. However change is good for us. It takes time for us to feel comfortable with our surroundings and feel safe, that’s natural. Change can be scary for many people. It was for me.

I was born and raised in a big city, Karachi, Pakistan. Karachi is the most educated and advanced city compared to rest of the country. The population for Karachi is between 13 and 20 million. Karachi is the hub for economic activity, manufacturing, technology, and industry. It is the heart of Pakistan.  

Growing up I witnessed mass chaos, people were always eager to get somewhere. Everyone was complaining about stress, traffic, money, family, anything. Another thing I noticed was that the health of people living in Karachi wasn’t as good as those in other areas of the country.  

I was eighteen years old when I moved to a suburb near Chicago, IL. Here I found much similarity between Karachi and Chicago. However Chicago was far more organized. There was no pollution, but the population and traffic was great. The people who work in the city have to leave pretty early from home to beat rush hour. I also found that the stress level was high for Chicago people too. It’s a busy life style but at the same time there is always something new an exciting happening. Chicago is one of the biggest cities in the world. People come from all over the world as a tourist and enjoy it. But one thing I really don’t like, is that like Karachi, it’s so expensive making it difficult for people to afford. I lived there for ten years there and then moved to a small town.

The reason we chose the town was because we heard that the school district was very good. It was for the benefit of our daughters. When we first moved all I could see was corn fields, and I thought where in the world are we? I am a city girl and I can’t live here, but there was no option of moving back.  The day we moved one of our neighbors came to our door and gave us a very warm welcome. It felt really good. Later on we found out that he was a pastor and I became good friends with his wife. She was the one who found a mosque (Muslim church) for me. My girls are about to graduate from high school and not a single year have I thought that I made the wrong choice. We were the first Muslim family to move to this town. At the beginning it was an adjustable time for us and for town people. Many of them had never met or seen people from Pakistan before.  Slowly but surely, my girls and I started making friends. I could see how kind and generous these people were. The lifestyle was very laid back and relaxed. There has never been a traffic issue. From the health prospective, the air is very clean and we hardly ever get sick.

Whenever I returned to Chicago, the lifestyle and attitudes bothered me. I started liking my small town home. I made lots of friends and I can truly say that they are my life long friends. After living many years in my town, I feel like I have become part of the community. I was born in a big city. Then lived ten years of my life in Chicago and I am proud to say is that through it all I found a home in a small town.