Oh, Habersham County. How to describe you? It seems like the biggest small town ever, but it's really just like six small towns that aren't too terribly different all wrapped up into one county line. It's a county full of he-said-she-said and a love for high school football that I've never been able to understand. And while I could go on with a list of things that lead me to leave this place, there a few things that I'll never be able to forget.
1. Stoney’s was the only place to get breakfast in the morning.
Nothing quite like a homemade biscuit to start you day off. Totally worth being ten minutes late to school.
2. Trying to explain where the city lines are to tourists but they still don’t understand.
Clarkesville is next to Demorest, which is near Cornelia and around Mt. Airy. You're looking for Baldwin? Oh, that's out past Cornelia, toward Commerce. Duh.
3. Nothing to do Friday night? Football.
Friday night in the South? Of course, you're spending it watching high school football because, let's be honest, what else are you actually going to do?
4. Nothing to do Saturday night? Walmart parking lot.
In a county with a whole lot of nothing in the way of entertainment, somehow this is the most fun thing we can think of doing.
5. Falling in love with a restaurant on the square and then having it shut down.
The Copper Pot and The Attic are still running strong, and that's at least something.
6. Not matter if you lived in Demorest or Mt. Airy, you always went to the Zaxby’s in Cornelia because it was less sketchy than the Clarkesville one.
It may look nice in the daytime, but the minute dusk hits, you'll be heading toward Cornelia without even realizing it.
7. You definitely know you’re over the county line when you see the bus graveyard.
8. The Chattahoochee probably runs through your backyard.
It wouldn't be a North Georgia summer without some tubing down that river.
9. Demorest is the place to go for the 4th of July.
I mean, they shut down most of that road (you know, the only main road that goes through it), and the hill by the Piedmont College gym is the best place to watch the fireworks.
10. Making sure your car can make it to RaceTrac in Cornelia because they really do have the cheapest gas.
This is when you truly learned how far your car could go before "E" really meant empty.
11. Getting stuck behind a tractor or cattle truck is legitimate excuse for being late to school.
And yelling at the cows to move definitely doesn't work. It's also ineffective against the farmer.
12. You probably know about eight different back roads that will all take you to the same place.
And you'd be lying if you said that you didn't intentionally go down them to impress your friends -- then remember that you may not know them as well as you remember...
13. The North Habersham Middle School and South Habersham Middle School rivalry is part of your life history.
The Bobcats and the Rebels are always at each other's necks on the field, and you had to chose a side. No room for common ground on this one.
14. But somehow it always dissolves once you get into high school.
15. You always knew what was going at the high school thanks to this rock.
Whether it be prom or a tragic accident that has affected the school, the community will definitely know because it will be advertised here.
16. The standard truck is lifted at least three feet from where it should be.
17. You usually have to use Helen, Ga. as a reference point.
But you still manage to get the 20 percent local discount because all the clerks know that you're 5,000 percent done with the tourists.
18. No one really know where Alto, Ga. is.
All we know is about Lee Arrendale prison -- and a boot store? And maybe a gas station?
