The Small Town Vibe that is Ojai...

There are many things to love about living in a small town.  Lack of traffic, too many people all trying to access the same resources, the fact that if you act out, it is likely someone you know is going to witness it, which helps keep me on a spiritual path. 

The older I get, the more I need stability, familiarity and less people.  When I was younger, I loved a crowd.  Not so much these days.  I can still rally for some things: concerts, parades, sporting events, but that is about it.  Most of the time now, I just crave quiet, peaceful, settled.

I have lived in Ojai since 2010.  And it has changed a lot since then but it remains a town where you know your neighbors and you watch out for each other.  On the 4th of July, the parade is comprised of half the town in it, and the other half of the town watching it.  When I was at the parade yesterday, I was struck by how much this town is my home. Having moved around my whole life, I have never lived anywhere for this long, ever.  And there was a time where I was quite desperate to move away.  But that has now blessedly passed and I love my home, my community and my life here in sleepy little Ojai.

This may not seem like something huge to you but this is an observation from me about this town:  this town loves the 4th of July so much that people start putting chairs out for the parade at the end of May.  I swear I saw a smattering of chairs Memorial Day weekend!  People are so excited, they want to ensure they get their seats for the parade over a month later!  And our town is filled from one end to the other with chairs that line both sides of the street.  Yesterday I even saw a scaffolding with a couch on it!

But last night as I drove from my home on the West side of town, to my friends’ home on the East side of town at 5:30 pm, almost every chair was gone.  There were maybe 10 chairs left along the parade route.  And it made me smile.  People in this town are so excited for something that they reserve their spot more than a month in advance, but they are so socially responsible that they remove those same chairs as soon as the parade is over.  Think about that for a moment.  Families all gathered together, children flung here and there and involved in so many things, people still took the time to clean up after themselves before they got on with the festivities.  People in this town care that much about the town that they plan so far ahead but then, when the event is passed, they tend to their responsibilities and clean up after themselves.  I will also comment that I didn’t see one speck of trash as I drove across our fair city.

I have lived in major cities, in the middle of throngs of people, and I have lived on a remote ranch in the wilderness of the New Mexican high desert and I will tell you that there is just no place like Ojai!  And I say that with the hopes that if you do come here and fall in love with it, you will not move here.  Or if you do, you will realize that the whole point of Ojai is that the town changes you, not the other way around.  We have bumper stickers that say, “Keep Ojai Lame...”  And that kind of a sentiment is shared by many.  I don’t think Ojai is lame, I would change it to “Keep Ojai, Ojai...”  There really isn’t another place on earth quite like it.

I may not be a native Ojaian or even Californian but this is my home and I feel so very blessed to live here in this quite little town where not much happens.  Where my kids grew up and were kept safe.  Where my parents retired and my father passed.  Where I have grown up and matured and come to be a person at rest and ease.  No more flitting around from here to there.  I have done my best to be a good steward of the town, its citizens, its landscapes and its history.  I am sure that I have done little to change the town, but I will absolutely own that Ojai has changed me.  I am a very different person than I was in 2010.  And I would like to claim a positive growth trajectory for the most part.  And yesterday just helped me remember how very much I love this place and a swelling gratitude for the vibe, the town and the people.

Again, still...