Last night, the Napa High Spiritleaders hosted an afternoon of fun for local kids. For $40 a kid, they learned a dance, some cheers, and had pizza for dinner. Parents were sent home while the spirited young ladies did their magic. Then, they walked to the big high school gym and watched the first half of the basketball game. At halftime, we joined them in the gym to watch the performance of what they had learned earlier. Weez and Harry were in different groups, each learned a cool dance with their spiritleaders. Our sitter Ashli is the head spiritleader for the varsity squad and she was the leader of the boy’s group. H felt pretty cool dancing with her out on the court. Weezy’s group was bigger and but so adorable, dancing their hearts out to Beiber.
The advantages to living in a small town, that really behaves as a community, are many. I do dread going to the grocery store sometimes, because at a minimum, you see at least two people you know. When you are make-up-less and in yoga pants, the minimum increases to four. The checkers at the stores have been there for ages. Literally, Monty at Nob Hill gets on my case for still using my mom’s loyalty number. He has known our family since 1990. He gets a Christmas gift from us. If you mention him by name, everyone knows who you mean. It should also be mentioned that his look has not changed in the slightest way over the years. Same mustache, same reddish brown tan.
Napa is unique. For being a place with so many visitors, the number of locals is huge. Many of my high school friends have returned to Napa after branching out for a bit for college and big city life. Some have only ventured out for vacations! We enjoy all of the places that tourist enjoy just the same. Those places make an effort to cater to locals almost as much as the temporaries. The Oxbow for example is a must-visit when in Napa, yet we have our “table” where we are at least once a week, sipping wine and having dinner.
I love this little/big community. Never in a million years did I think that I would end up at 42, living directly across the street from my very first home in Napa. Well, I do. The friends I am closest to today are people I didn’t consider besties in high school, but now I can’t imagine life without them. That’s sort of the way I view life. The big picture and the small, and how those two mingle with each other. It makes for a grand life in this little place.
same new song 