Not many people have grown up in a small town. The one I lived in, Tellico Plains, Tennessee, had only around 800 people. Small towns like Tellico Plains are almost an alternate universe that your peers cannot fully understand in comparison to the places they grew up and telling others about what it is like to grow up there simply doesn't quite capture the absurdity and camaraderie that both exist in that small little nook of society. Here is a list of facts you know to be true if you ever lived in a small town.
1. There is no way to avoid someone in a small town.
If there is someone you do not like, or someone who upset you, there is no way to avoid them. You are guaranteed to either run into that person or someone he knows because of how few people live in your town. It is like trying to not get wet while near a pool filled with children.
2. You cannot keep anything hidden
With not much to do in a sparsely populated area, entertainment is far and few between. That being said, small towns run on gossip. I have been in college three semesters, and I am still updated on the talk of the town. If you have something to hide, you had better try to hide it somewhere else. Your neighbors know everything about you and your family. If something scandalous happens, everyone and their third cousin twice removed will know about it in a few days. You can walk down the street in a small town and get congratulations on news you did not know you shared. You never question it, that is just the magic of a small town gossip chain.
3. Everyone knows everyone and everything about them
Because small towns are tight-knit communities, you likely know everyone as well as their secrets and regrettable actions, even if you do not personally know them. Your parents graduated with the parents of your friends, your teachers graduated with your cousins and your neighbor on the corner of the road knew your aunt when she had a gap in her teeth big enough to whistle through. Everyone you see could tell you a story about when you were little, and they could divulge about when your family members were younger and did something incredibly embarrassing or amazing.
4. You never go on a quick trip to the store
If you just need some milk and bread, you had better plan on an hour long trip to the store instead of the ten minutes it would take to get through the store. You will see people you know that you have to talk to or have to stop to talk to you. You have been standing and chatting with milk in hand for thirty minutes before you realize it. You may make it to the check out line and realize you went to school with the clerk, which turns into an hour long gossip session about that one person who graduated with you both. If you somehow make it out of the store, the parking lot is always full of what seems to be your entire extended family plus everyone in your graduating class. Do not try to go to the store and think you will get out without talking to someone.
5. You are somehow related to everyone
You are literally related to everyone. They all remember when you were knee high on a grasshopper. The old woman who lives down the street with her copious amounts of yard sale goods is your second cousin's mother in law. The Spanish teacher you got this year turned out to be your first cousin, and you did not even realize it until it was already too late. When your little one tells you who they have a crush on, you are going to have to tell them that is their cousin, and so is pretty much everyone in the school. The best dating advice in a small town is to find someone out of town because they are related one way or another.
6. I mean it, you are related to everyone in town
Your junior year science teacher is apparently your grandfather's cousin, and you were not informed until he showed up at your house. You ask about the chemistry teacher, and she is related too. You get pulled over and the city police office asks for your licence; he comes back saying your mother is his cousin so he lets you off with a warning and a warm hello for your mother. Your first meeting with your college counselor turns into a discussion on how your great aunt (her cousin) is doing. Walking through town square, someone stops you to say he found a picture of your mother and you at his brother's barbecue ten years ago, and then he hands you a copy to give to your mother. You cannot go anywhere in the town without encountering some sort of family member.
7. The livestock outnumber the people
When you drive through the town and down the back roads, the vast majority of what you will see is probably going to be cows with a mixture of other farm animals here and there. Three sides of my house had views of cattle fields, the other side was fields that were used for cattle. Going through the neighborhoods and spans of pavement, you see more fields for the animals than houses, and there are more animals out in one field than there are houses on the whole road. There are even cattle brought to schools occasionally and classes taught specifically for farming and raising livestock. When they outnumber the people, you might as well cater to the majority.
8. The only traffic you are likely to encounter on the road is a tractor or an animal
Few small towns actually have a red light (my town only has a single blinking sign for a school zone by the high school). When cars are backed-up on the road, it is not because of too many cars, it is usually because of a tractor. Eventually the tractor will pull off, and you will pass it as they let the backed-up vehicles behind them go on or pull off onto their road. Occasionally though, there is the rare situation that an animal got out of its fencing or out of the woods nearby, and people have to herd it off the road before it gets hurt. The hilarity of the traffic jam makes up for it in the first place as those kept waiting realize the cause.
9. Open fields and woods are everywhere
When you live in a place that does not have many people, not much land is taken up by the people. That being said, there is a lot of open and untouched space everywhere in a small town. The open fields to run through and ride across are endless and so are the forests and wooded groves to camp in or explore. You can always count on woodland creatures to be visible from your front porch. They fill in the empty spaces and create the hum of life in a small town without city traffic to scare them or make them adapt out of their natural self. Small towns thrive off the abundance of natural beauty around them all the time.
10. High school football is the center of the town
One thing that is never joked about in a small town is high school football. Everyone in town knows the team cheers, the players, the coach and is at the games if they can be. Friday nights, the whole town shows up to support the youth of their homespun team no matter who they play or how cold it is. The stands are full, and the fence is lined with eager faces who want the best view of their sons and their family members who run the field. The sidelines are packed with a mass of boys in football uniforms ready to hit the field the second their name is called; they know that football is the pride of their town and know it's their shot at glory here. Students past and present congregate on both sides of the bleachers, catching up and watching their friends play. No one would miss football and the festivities.
11. If you ever need anything, your town will be there for you
Even if it might not seem like it at times, a small town will rally together and surround you with helping hands when you need them. No disaster can tear apart the community; they take it upon themselves to help their neighbor, their friend, their family and their area rebuild and recover in the wake of the devastation. Those who cannot physically remake the town will do so by bringing food and supplies to those who need it or are working tirelessly to transform it from ruin to restoration. When death or illness strikes someone, everyone comes together to help the family make it through the time of trial. Everyone will lend whatever they can to help out those around them because they know others would do the same if the roles were reversed.
