Everyone from a small town has an equal sense of pride and loathing for their hometown. Sure it's tiny, everyone knows everyone else's business and nothing exciting ever happens here, but we hold tight to those never-changing aspects of our town that make it our town. I grew up in the great suburb of Medfield, Massachusetts, world-famous for, well, nothing. But below are a few things all Medfieldians know made them the small-town person they are today:
1. 10 Million Pizza Places (and counting)
OK, so it's more like seven, but these places can be pretty polarizing. You can be certain that at any given sleepover there will be a heated debate about which place to order pizza from. Hint: The answer is always Royals.
2. Dunkin Donuts vs. Starbucks
3. Lords
4. Bubblegum Bob
Shockingly enough, there are zero pictures of this hometown hero on the Internet. If you've spent anytime in Medfield, you've seen this delightful man walking around town handing out gum and showing off the pictures he's taken of our glorious town. He's so dear to our hearts, as of May 31, 2013, was dubbed "Bubblegum Bob Day" in the town of Medfield.
5. PIG RACES
6. Weird obsession with lacrosse, weird un-obsession with the football team
7. That mental hospital we have.
Let's admit it: It's real creepy. It's all eerie and quiet and horror movie-esque. Every Medfield kid has gone up here to "take a walk," maybe checking to see if they forgot to lock any doors when they shut the place down in 2003. Also, "Shutter Island" was filmed here, which is Medfield's only claim to fame.
8. The middle school uniform
What uniform? It's public school! If you didn't notice it, it's probably because you participated. In the coldest of winter, we could see the classic Ugg/North Face combination:
And every other time of year, we had the killer Juicy Couture velour track suit:
Oh yeah. If this doesn't scream 2008 then I don't know what does.
9. Hinkley
Good times, guys, good times.
10. Going uptown on half days to Friendly's (moment of silence for Friendly's).
Every teacher development day was basically the best day ever because you and your closest 15 friends could walk uptown to order Dippin' Chicken and a Birthday Cake Friend-Z from Friendly's. And let's be real: all the best first dates between the seventh grade power couples happened at Friendly's
11. You can write a five-paragraph essay in your sleep.
This is no joke. At this point, you could put any random conglomerate of research in front of a Medfieldian and they could spit out a perfectly organized five-paragraph essay in under 30 minutes. Thanks Mrs. Ayers.
12. Your college GPA is actually higher than your high school GPA.
Say all you want about Medfield High School, but every MHS graduate knows all too well the value of hard, hard, hard work.
13. Nature's Classroom
"I just takes some time little girl you're in the middle of the ride,"--literally all I got out of Nature's Classroom.
14. Slushies at North Street
A true right of passage for a young Medfieldian.
15. Your mom is just as hip with the "Gossip" as you are.
In fact, she probably knows it way before you do. I'm pretty sure that Medfield moms have their own "Gossip Girl" to keep tabs on us all...
16. Can't walk into any public building without seeing five people you know and two of your friends' moms.
Going to the supermarket is actually a two-hour endeavor because of the endless conversations you have. "Yeah, college is awesome! Nope, still single, thanks. Oh yeah, she did peak in high school."
17. Endless amounts of hometown pride.
My friends and I on graduation--glad to be moving on, but I think we're all a little glad to go back.
