Life on the Prairies

Hi again, all. Good to have you here. And by here, of course, I mean the lovely town of Three Hills, Alberta, home of Prairie Bible College (along with Prairie Elementary and High Schools) and several other notable features. Like what? Well, won't you just find out soon?

Before I post some photos of the town, I'd like to wax philosophical for a moment, if you'll permit me to. This past week, okay, this past month, has been quite the ride for us. From deciding to leave on the spur of the moment to finally getting here has been quite the whirlwind adventure. But I think the word "adventure" really is appropriate. Yeah, there's been stress. Harsh words have sometimes been exchanged. Babies have cried. Bugs a-plenty have met an unfortunate demise at the grill of our car (seriously, it looks like a smorgasbord at a second-rate Chinese buffet restaurant--the question we ask the most is, "What on earth is that?"). But you know what? Through all that, we're in the right place.

Before we came out here, my urban-centric way of life (even though I live in the suburbs--oh no, I've turned into a statistic!) told me that there couldn't be any redeeming characteristics about this town, that I'd have to hold my breath for eight months and just get through, knowing that there was a worthy goal at the other end. But when we got here, I think I finally began to understand why people actually choose to live in a place like Three Hills. In a word, it's beautiful. Oh sure, it's a different type of beauty than the Lower Mainland can offer, but it's still absolutely stunning nonetheless.

And coming out here has made me start to reconsider what's really important in my life. By the way, the coming paragraph isn't meant as a slam against anything in particular, and it's not intended to be me getting on my high horse about how I'm superior to you--it's just my own personal, subjective reflections. Enough of a disclaimer? Anyway, I'm reconsidering my priorities, like I was saying. For example, one of the first things we noticed when we got to our new home (yes, it is a mobile home, but I prefer the term "modular") was that there was no cable outlet. "A whole year without TV?" thought I, "what the ham am I going to do with my time? How am I going to keep track of the dozen TV shows I follow?" We're a week into our time here (and a week into the new TV season), and you know, I don't even miss it. Not one bit. And this is coming from a guy who has a 44" rear projection TV in his living room (and no, just because I don't miss TV doesn't mean I'm giving mine away). It's just really not that important. This is the simple life. What do we do with our time? Fun things, like paying attention to our son 100%, without the TV blaring mindlessly in the background. Tonight we played a game of Chinese Checkers. We bought a 1000-piece puzzle to work on. I've become hopelessly addicted to Sudoku (me and the rest of the world, apparently). Heck, Steph's even taken up cross-stitch. We actually notice each other.

This is really the simple life. And not the simple life in the Paris-Hilton-I'm-too-good-for-you kind of way, either. We hang our clothes to dry on a clothesline. We walk into town and greet everyone we see as though we've known them forever. People stop each other in the grocery store and actually have meaningful things to say to one another. The entire town shuts down on Sunday. This is what community is all about. And I can't help but think that this is how we were meant to be.

If nothing else, even if I fail my courses and come home in disgrace, there's one lesson that I'll hold onto from this whole experience: sometimes I don't have it right. Sometimes there's more to life than what I think there is. Sometimes you have to get way out of your comfort zone, do something you never thought you'd be able to do, so you can say that you've really lived.

Before I really get going, I'll quit there and get on with the pictures. My goal today is to take you around the town, pointing out all the notable sights. First off, Three Hills is very proud of itself...

Here are a couple of random streets, but they give you the idea of what the town is like...

This is Main Street, first looking to the north...

Then off to the south (where the land goes on until it meets the horizon)...

Here's the end of Main Street, and, quite literally, the edge of town. Coming from the Lower Mainland (the city that goes on forever), the idea of town having a clear "edge" was very different for me...

One of the great features of small towns such as this are murals. Does every small town have one? I think so. Hey, Three Hills has, appropriately, three of them. We didn't get a picture of one, but here are two of them...

Finally, besides a grain elevator (which we can't get a really good shot of, or at least, haven't been able to yet), every town in the prairies has a water tower. Here's the one in Three Hills...

And that's pretty much the whole place. Next time I post, I'm going to give you a tour of our place, and I also have some scenic shots to put up here.

Until next time, keep it real. And if you ever find yourself passing through Three Hills (as the Wally and Sylvia Nickel family did this past week), let us know you're coming through. We've got a bed and a hide-a-bed available, so come on by.

See you all again soon.