Letter: Can you see why I’ve made this my home?

Tonight my thirteen-year-old son and his buddy were biking downtown when they collided with each other. My son had a nasty gash on his leg that left him bleeding.

At that time the owner of the Riverwalk Mercantile (who I do not know) was taking in his sign after closing up.

He saw the accident and immediately helped my boy by cleaning his wound, bandaging up his leg, and getting him to laugh.

The boys hobbled home. My son showed me his wound, and we walked across the street to ask our neighbor, Nurse Angie, what she thought about his gash.

That conversation led us to an impromptu visit to the clinic at 6 p.m. where he was stitched up within 30 minutes.

We then headed to the EconoFoods pharmacy where the pharmacist gave the lad a good talking to about how pain medication would make him feel all stupid and groggy (as in “Don’t like this too much, kid!”).

From start to finish the ordeal lasted about an hour.

Over the past nine years, I’ve commuted daily to the Twin Cities — much to the dismay of my coworkers and classmates.

Why would anyone spend 90 minutes in a car every day just to live in some little Wisconsin town?

Tonight is perfect evidence of why I’m more than happy to commute in exchange for living in such a wonderful and caring community.

Thank you so much to the shopkeeper who helped my son; my neighbor Angie who reminded me the clinic was open late; the clinic staff who got him in to see a great medical team in minutes; and the pharmacist at Econo who gave him an invaluable avuncular chat.

You all make this town an ideal place to shape a young person into a good neighbor.

Tags: river falls, opinion, letters