sleepy little town

I'm more of a christian radio kinda girl, but a few days ago I got a copy of the new Carrie Underwood CD and today I got around to listening to most of it. Number 9 is titled "Thank God for Home Towns." One line in the chorus says "thank God for county lines that welcome you back in when you were dyin to get out..." This was and is and has been totally me for the majority of my life. As soon as I was old enough to reason and think for myself and recognize world problems and contemplate solutions, I was ready to get out of town and on to bigger and better things. Small towns have lots to offer, and all I could see for most of my growing up was the not-so-shiny parts. I saw the gossip, the he-said she-said, the close mindedness of racism and it being absurd to consider dating someone outside your race. I saw the Bible belt church-goers who were there every chance and hid their liquor bottles under the counters at home, the middle class at it's finest with a handful of rich folks and a handful or two of poor ones mixed in. I saw public schools focused more on agriculture and trade than math and science and English, and I saw a town that lived or died according to high school football. I saw no mall, no chain restaurants, and nothing to do on a Friday night besides ride the strip until it shut down around 11. I saw little opportunity to advance in society and little to no change at all in the way things were done and had been done for the past who-knows-how-many years. And I was ready to put it all [Amish buggies and hay bails and back roads included] in my rear view mirror. So, I did.

And I moved on, from big city to big city to another country to another big city where I'm settled now. But when I sit and think about it, I realize how much that small town where I grew up means to me, and how much of it I carry with me in who I am today. All the crap I used to see has grown dim and less important... and now, what I see is a community of people who love. I see beautiful fields of corn and cows, Saturday mornings of riding through Amish country buying fresh vegetables or homemade pies. I see Homecoming parades and high school dances and football games that make weekends plenty eventful until it's time for sleeping. I see a place where businesses and schools and individuals unite to support it's members when cancer strikes or brain tumors appear or sudden loss of young lives devastate families and friends. I see a town fighting for Biblical morals in the workplace and in schools, a group of families and neighbors and friends who are living quiet lives in a sleepy town but who are LOVING each other always.

There is nothing like going home and being welcomed by people waving as you pass them on the highway. Going through the drive-thru at Wendys and having someone you've known since you were 10 take your order. Running to Walmart and literally seeing at least 1 member of your extended family, probably 5 people you graduated high school with [most of whom are pushing a stroller], and a few people you go to church with or who know your parents too. Or going out to the county fair on a crisp Fall night... helping your parents dodge people they don't want to speak to, your sisters dodge exboyfriends or exbestfriends, not being able to walk more than 20 steps at a time because someone is being stopped by someone to say hi, and seeing childhood friends you haven't seen in years... hugging their necks and catching up in a few short words and then saying goodbye, until next time. Because there is always a next time, in this sleepy little town we call home.

my mom and sisters and me on the tilt-a-whirl at the fair