Sometimes being in the middle of nowhere means being in the heart of everywhere.
There are times I complain I'm too far away from airports and arts and cultural events, but sometimes the best place to be is right in the middle. Where we live, almost everyone has a vehicle and they use them. I have friends in the city who put fewer kilometres on a vehicle in a decade than I do in a couple of months, others don't even have their own method of transportation and rely on the kindness of others and public transportation.
I looked up a bus fare recently and found a student fare from Saskatoon to Lloydminster would cost almost $100. I can drive any of our vehicles loaded with passengers and stuff for far less than that. I was surprised. I thought you could still save money if you took a bus instead of driving if only one person had to make the trip.
I'm used to being the one who travels for family events and although we do have some amazing events close to home there are things I want to experience in the city. Being stuck in the middle means more choices.
People around here make their choices based on their experiences with good service, the price of goods, possible tax savings and the joy they have in visiting a particular city to the east or west and sometimes north or south.
Sometimes having a place in the middle means the best of both worlds and even more choices than the folks on either end have.
This week we have the opportunity to knock an item off of my husband's bucket list. We will attend a concert he considered flying to Vancouver or Los Angeles to attend on the last tour. I cringed when I thought about the cost and even when we did buy tickets in a venue only a few hours from home it wasn't easy to part with the price of admission.
Luckily we're close enough we don't have to fly or spring for the cost of a hotel room.
I have been lucky enough to benefit from learning opportunities in both directions and I have friends and networks of artistic support when travelling both east and west. I appreciate all the great things a small community has to offer.
I have almost everything a person needs close to home but when I want something completely different it doesn't take much to gas up the car, drive a little slower to get better mileage and head out to wherever I want to go.
