By CHERIE WARD

The Natchez Democrat

VIDALA — Small-town life is not for everyone, but for some people, it is the only way to live.

Casey Adams, who lives on MyrtleStreet in Vidalia, where The Dart landed Friday, said she loves the simplicity of small-town life, including the way people wave at her when she drives by.

“I just love it,” said Adams, 36, as she stroked her 9-year-old daughter Jayden’s hair. “I’ve lived in big towns and things like that just don’t happen there. In big towns, some people don’t even know their neighbors.”

Adams held Jayden, who has an identical twin sister named Cayden, in her lap and cuddled her closely as she talked.

“She (Jayden) was sick today, so we’ve had a me-and-her day. It’s been great,” Adams said as an orange cat named Dillon rubbed itself back and forth on her leg. “We’ve watched movies, eaten junk food and just relaxed a little.”

Adams said the cat adopted her family.

“He’s our baby,” Adams said of Dillon. “He showed up, and he was just here. It was like he looked around, and he just decided he was home.”

At that point Jayden chimed in and said, “But, I was her baby first and don’t forget I’m spoiled rotten, too.”

Jayden proudly showed off her darkly painted toes nails and said the polish was a gift for her recent birthday, and laughed as her two 2-year-old brother, Sebastian, pushed open the door to the carport and climbed into his mother’s lap.

“We just got back from Montana,” Adams said, “and it’s nothing like being here, in Vidalia. It’s just so much better here. Life is good here.”

Adams said she had been married to a military man and has lived all over the world.

“But, there’s no place like home,” she said. “There’s no place like Vidalia.”