Roseau

I have decided that I love the people from Roseau.

This weekend, Buffie and I went to watch Carolyn's WONDERFUL play, "Orson's Shadow," at the Loading Dock Theater in St. Paul. Coincidentally, the Boys' State Hockey Tournament was being held in St. Paul simultaneously. The nearest bar to the theater was in the Embassy Suites Hotel (you can see where this is going, I imagine...)
Anyway, we went to the bar after the play and it was PACKED with Roseau fans of all ages. It got me to wondering..."Do all of these people know each other?" At about the same time, a woman of about 50 walked by and I decided to ask her. Joanne was her name.

Me: Excuse me. How many people live in Roseau?

Joanne: Well. How many people did you graduate with?

Me: Around 800.

Joanne: Well, our whole school, K-12, has about 800 kids. I'd say we are about 2,500.

Me: Do you know everyone here?

Joanne: Pretty much.

Well, here we are with much of the town of Roseau and we have with us Carolyn...THE Polaris Bride in the commercial. Remember the one? A single snowflake falls as she is on the steps of the church and she cries, "NOOOOOOOOO!" The next shot is of her groom-to-be on his Polaris snowmobile riding in the great wide open. Everyone knows the Polaris bride, especially Roseau natives. We had to share this with Joanne who is from the home of Polaris itself. She proceeded to pretty much introduce Carolyn to everyone walking by. Hilarious...

We decided that we needed to add Roseau as a girls' weekend destination. We love small towns and have done this a number of times. Immediately, Joanne invites us to stay at her cabin. On Lake of the Woods. In the attached apartment. So we didn't have to see her husband walking around in his underwear.

As Joanne was ordering a water with some complimentary whiskey, the husband walked up. She was busy talking with the waitress and someone else. We introduced ourselves, Carrie as the Polaris Bride and the husband as the president of the local bank. (Buffie and I rode Carrie's coattails...) Anyway, we mentioned going to Roseau sometime and the FIRST thing he says is, "You should come up and stay at our cabin? It's on Lake of the Woods."

Honestly. How amazing is THAT? These people were amazing. It got me to thinking about how nice it would be to be a part of something smaller.

It must feel
Connected.
Trusting.
Honest.
Open.
Inviting.
Friendly.

I love stories like these. They seem like small blips on the radar, not even worth mentioning. But I believe that these blips are what create the richness in my life. These small occurrences help me keep my faith in humanity. They remind me how kind and generous most people really are.

The six hour drive to Roseau will be worth it...We are definitely going.