Well for starters.......I was born in a small town. I was raised in a small town. Fell in love in a small town. I'm just a small town kind of girl. Is that how the song goes? Sure wish I could find that song! (Hey...Kari found the song of me! Thank you Kari!)

As you already know my name is Kathy. Yes, I was really born in a small town. In Britton, South Dakota on April 1, 1953. I have 4 brothers and 3 sisters. My parents moved to Oakes, North Dakota when I was 2 years old. Never heard of it have you? That could be because Oakes is also a small town! Oakes is 110 miles southwest of Fargo, North Dakota. The population in Oakes is still under 2,000. It was a great little town to grow up in.

My parents owned and operated the bakery in Oakes. It was the only bakery in town. People would drive miles just to buy my parents baked goods. I can still smell the bread baking in that huge oven!

I went to to grade school and high school in Oakes. In fact my classmates and I were the first to attend kindergarten! Our kindergarten class was held in the basement of the Methodist Church. Oakes was growing and the town had to build an elementary school for all the children. The elementary school was built across from the old school; which became the high school.

That was the same year that Life Magazine did an article on our town! My classmates and I even had our pictures in that article! Of course that was years ago and I never got a copy of the magazine. I do remember there was a picture of us climbing the trees at Hockenberry Park! Other pictures in that article were of the play the people of Oakes were putting on at the time. Believe it or not the play was "OUR TOWN"!

Summers were spent at the swimming pool. My friends and I went day and night! Oakes has the best high dive around! If I wasn't swimming then I was horseback riding with my friend, Karen. In the winter it was ice skating and sledding. We would get tons of snow back in North Dakota! At least that is what I thought growing up. I was always knee deep in snow!

Soon after high school I got married. That's what small town girls did back then! Not really, just me and a few other girls! I was just to young to be married and that marriage ended in divorce. But out of that union we have two wonderful boys!

I moved to Tacoma, Washington soon after my divorce. That was 25 years ago. It sure is different living in a big city! The reason I moved to Tacoma was because my Mom was here. She moved out here two years before I did. Tacoma is known as The City of Destiny

My daughter was born in Tacoma in December of 1977. There were times I wished we still lived in Oakes. I wanted her to have as much fun as I did when I was growing up! Out here you can not leave your children unsupervised like you could back in a small town. Now it's not even that safe in small towns! I feel she did not have the freedom that I did when I was young. Erin is now married and lives in a small town in New Jersey!

I had many jobs since I've lived in Tacoma. The first job I had here was as a nurse's aid. I wanted to be a nurse. However, I found I was way to sensitive for this type of work. Then I work for my brother at a pizza shop. I learned a lot of good work habits from my brother. I finally ended up becoming a baker for Fred Meyers. I was a natural. I loved my job as a baker. This also came to an end after I had been there for ten years. I fell with a 50 pound bag of flour and injured my low back in Jan of 1993! No more heavy lifting for me! After three years of treatment I was finally able to go back to work in '96. I work part time in an office. I am thinking of going back to school for medical office work.

Now that our kids are all married and on their own my husband and I are left to enjoy our golden years! Let me tell all you young parents one thing.....don't be in such a hurry for your children to grow up! It happens soon enough! We do enjoy spending time with our seven grandchildren. We have three granddaughters in the Tacoma/Seattle area. I can't wait for my grandchildren in North Dakota and New Jersey to get a little older so they can fly out to Tacoma to spend a few weeks with us in the summer! For the passed two years we have driven to North Dakota to see my grandchildren. Of course we go to New Jersey first to see my daughter! This makes for a nice three week vacation!

Well... now you know more about me than I ever thought I would write! My daughter would say,"way more than anyone needed to know!" Then she would laugh......LOL

Thanks again to Kari for finding the mid Small Town! She found it at Lee's Midi Music Lounge Check his site out!

Found the lyrics to Small Town, thanks to Fila! No midi file for it though! Goes like this...........

Well I was born in a small town. And I live in a small town. Prob'ly die in a small town. Oh, those small communities. All my friends are so small town. My parents live in the same small town...and so on!