The painful truths of a town can range all the way from politics to how small the area can be. Moving from Newton, New Jersey to Spring Garden, AL when I was younger made me realize over the years how much I hate these "nano" sized communities. Think about it, if you ever look at a map of Alabama on Google, Spring Garden isn't there! Spring Garden doesn’t even show up until you start zooming in on the map by like X50! We are the tiniest speck in the middle of nowhere Alabama and if you even mention Spring Garden, 9 out of 10 times no one will know where we are located. Generally, I always have to say Piedmont because people get so confused trying to remember if they have been there, well no, of course not! There isn't anything there!
We Only Have The Spring Garden General Store
Literally! Only the Spring Garden General Store! Now there is a school but talk about small classes. I mean during my time there before transferring, my graduating class was around the lower 30’s. If you ever want to eat or go grocery shopping at the nearest Walmart, you have to travel 30-40 minutes just for about anything. I mean we do have Piedmont, but for food… really not a lot of variety. Like who wants Jacks or Mexican food every time you go out, definitely not me. Now going to a mall for shopping, talk about a drive! Any shopping I do, the drive to any of the malls nearby is 45 minutes to an hour. If you drive through Spring Garden, you’ll probably never notice. We have cow pastures and fields all throughout and a widespread layout of houses (aka rural).
Cell Service? Nahhhh
When I said we are in the middle of nowhere, I meant it! For those of you who know me, my sister will always get onto me for using most of our cell phone data. The data that is used up is from my phone taking ages to find service or taking forever to load a snapchat or Instagram picture I was tagged in. Some of my friends that I invite over, don’t get service at all! They complain constantly about not being able to contact parents or other friends when we are making plans that I have to give them my phone or the landline. Yes, I said landline! Sometimes you have to use the old tech to communicate and don’t get me started with a number of phone calls that have dropped from lack of service!
Do People Know Who We Are?
HELL NO! You may get the occasional sprinkle of "oh yeah, I drive past it on the way home to Rome, Georgia" or "yeah I may have heard of it!" The people who we have played in sports and are local do not count! The struggle is real, I have to say Piedmont after a while because I just cannot take the dumb, confused look anymore. If they don’t understand, my last resort is, “I’m two hours Northeast of Birmingham.” I’m telling you, it is awful not having people know where you are from.
Close Minded And No Diversity
Have you ever went somewhere and was like, “Oh wow everyone here literally thinks the same thing.” Yes, well that is also Spring Garden. The majority of this small speck that might as well not be, is close minded. Witnessing the students at Spring Garden, change is not widely accepted. Also, around six years ago we finally started having a little diversity in the school but the fact it took so long and it still is a small percentage bothers me. Spring Garden, Alabama is definitely not a town that will be making any major changes anytime soon lest they prove my point.
The fact that I moved from a place that pushes for progress to a smaller place that the nearest “good” town is around 25-30 minutes away discourages me to stay in the area. I may like sports, but I do not pride sports over academics any day that I live. If you haven’t realized by now, we are solely known for our sports mainly basketball but volleyball and softball are honorable mentions. Now I will say that there are decent people in this town, just like there are decent people everywhere. And maybe things have changed since I lived there, but this is my opinion on the Spring Garden that I knew. I hope there are people out there who love Spring Garden and take pride in their town and those people probably don't agree with me, no one has to! But honestly, I prefer moving back up North or a city to reach the progress and variety I seek in society than staying in a small town.
man running in forestPhoto by 
