Meet Me at the Gazebo

I always kind of marvel at the fact that I love small towns as much as I do, because I didn't actually grow up in one.

I grew up in Warren, Michigan.

But somehow I found my way to Dexter, and now I honestly can't imagine being anywhere else.

There is just something about a small town that gets me. I love that you can say, "Meet me at the gazebo," and everyone knows exactly where you mean. No address needed. It's just the gazebo.

And for me, that particular gazebo holds a whole lot of memories.

So many of our family's best days have happened in Monument Park, right there in its shadow. Dexter Daze. Apple Daze. The Bicentennial Celebration. Summer afternoons. Music in the Park. Running into people you know. All those little moments that don't necessarily seem like a big deal when they're happening, but somehow add up to a life.

And here's the part that really gets me: my kids grew up here.

They have a small-town childhood.

They have traditions and places and events that have been part of their lives for as long as they can remember. Someday Dexter Daze won't just be something we did every August. It will be part of what they remember about being kids.

That just makes me ridiculously happy.

Because I think maybe that's what I love so much about small towns. You live in them long enough, and the places stop being just places.

They become part of your story.

And maybe that's a little bit of Small Town Alchemy right there. There's nothing inherently magical about a gazebo in the middle of a park.

But give it enough summer nights, music, conversations, kids running around, people you love and years of showing up...

And somehow it becomes magic.

So I'll meet you at the gazebo.

Shop the sticker