Okay, before the list, a quick background story.
On opening night at Summerset Theater, I was excited to run the stage lights. While sitting in the light booth behind the audience, I watched the ticket holders slowly trickle into the theater. Hey! There’s two of my friends from the Mom group I attend. Cool. Oh! Several coworkers from MacPhail are here! I chuckled how fun it was that I knew a few people. Then I saw a few teachers from Apple Lane walk in, and the owner of the local bookstore whom I’ve worked with was finding her seat.
On opening night at Summerset Theater, I was excited to run the stage lights. While sitting in the light booth behind the audience, I watched the ticket holders slowly trickle into the theater. Hey! There’s two of my friends from the Mom group I attend. Cool. Oh! Several coworkers from MacPhail are here! I chuckled how fun it was that I knew a few people. Then I saw a few teachers from Apple Lane walk in, and the owner of the local bookstore whom I’ve worked with was finding her seat.
I checked the clock and my lighting cues, then scanned the audience again. Sure enough, some ladies that I serve with on the HHH board, three families from church, and a few friends from the last show I was in were walking in… AND a few of Jeremy’s coworkers were coming in with my friend who is the town concierge! The list got even longer when some friends I know from the SPAM Museum came in, followed by a friend from the artworks center, and the parents of Tanner’s preschool classmate.
Once everyone was seated, I figured out that I knew at least half of the audience! I was really surprised. The other tech person assumed that I grew up here. No, I told her. I’m what they call a transplant to Austin. I explained that we just met our four-year mark on June 1, which didn’t seem to me like a lot of time to know so many people. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that we’ve really put down some good roots here. As a result, I wrote up this list!
You know you have lived in Austin MN for four years when….
- You see people you know every where you go, like half of the audience at Summerset theater, or 3-6 people every time you’re at the grocery store, or at least one person in almost every float in the 4th of July parade.
- You choose the restaurant you will eat at based on how long you’re willing to wait for the service, because you know- to the minute – how long every place in town takes to serve your food.
- Nearly every t-shirt in your t-shirt drawer depicts a product made by Hormel Foods.
- You’re finally OK with not leaving town for 6 months at a time.
- By consequence of not leaving town for up to 6 months at a time, you find yourself driving like an idiot in towns with more than 50, 000 people.
- You complain when events are more than $5 per person because so many events here are either very cheap or completely free (thank you to so many grants and programs in our community!).
- You genuinely like eating SPAM.
- You can properly use the word “yet.” For example, if someone asks “what else is on the list?” you will answer by saying “we have tomatoes and pepper, yet.” And if someone asks “when are we leaving?” You don’t say “in just 15 minutes” like the rest of the country. Nope, you know to reply by saying, “oh, we have 15 minutes, yet!” And if a comment is made about a kid getting big enough to do something on his own, but you think he is still pretty young, you know to simply say “he has a few years, yet.”
- You can recognize the semi trucks that carry the hogs.
- You can also tell if those trucks have made their delivery. The direction they are driving gives you a clue.
- You don’t worry about getting caught in traffic, because the only two things that cause traffic is a tractor or road construction.
- You get annoyed in other cities when it takes more than 7 minutes to get across town.
- Your child says “ufta!” instead of “oh my gosh.”
- For Halloween, you only buy costumes that can fit over a winter coat.
- In spring and summer, if more than 4 days have gone by without rain, you feel uncomfortable.
- You understand why a winter day at 0 degrees is considered very warm.
- When those frequent torrential down pours of rain occur, you wait it out for the 15-20 minutes that it lasts, and you don’t worry about being late for appointments because you know every one else is waiting it out, too.
- You see cars struggling on the intersections that don’t have lines to indicate where the lanes and stops are, and you remember how long it took yourself to figure that out. Haha, those newbies.
- You have become an advocate for the thousands of refugees that live in Austin because many of them are your friends.
- You catch yourself saying things like “boat” and “lake” with a Minnesotan accent, and you do it so well that no one bats an eye.
- Your children can tell you how to get everywhere in town and they have memories at almost every building in town.
- You’ve given up on storing the off-season clothes because spring and autumn are really just a random succession of days that are either really cold or really warm and in the winter you go on trips to warm weather, and in the summer, you go camping where you need clothes for cold nights, so basically any day of the year you need winter or summer clothes.
- You have vague memories of shopping at the long-lost Gymoca and Target.
- When the cashier asks for your name to log you into their system, they bubble with excitement because they know someone that knows you.
- Your family appears in the local paper about twice a year.
- You call this place home.