Named "best place to raise kids in South Carolina" by Businessweek Magazine, it's a wonder why anyone would want to leave ol' Goose Creek. It's home to the two high schools my siblings and I have graduated or are graduating from, plenty of thriving local and national businesses, and overall, a safe, cozy little town. And until I went to college, I couldn't wait to leave.
So, my dear Goose Creek, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry it took me moving away to realize how much you mean to me. You've been my home for almost 19 years, and you'll always be my hometown. In high school, my friends and I talked about our big college plans and living two to three hours away from this "dump." I don't think any of us realized that you've nurtured us and allowed us to flourish, to have those big dreams that would eventually take us away from you. That's what I love most about Goose Creek: most people either move far away and follow their ambitions successfully, or settle back in. But Goose Creek does not make failures, it never has.
I'm sorry it took me moving away to realize how much I miss you. I miss nights at Ray Stackley stadium cheering on my alma mater, singing how I'll be forever faithful to Stratford High School. I miss the occasional night at Royal Lanes, where I went after prom and always had a good time. I miss walking to Walmart with my best friend and talking on and on about anything and everything. I miss riding past the rec center I spent many years learning dance and cheer and gymnastics.
This is the toughest part about the first move from your hometown: once you move away, everything will change. In your new town, you'll have to get used to the new buildings that pass by your car window, and the longer drive to get to places that used to take seconds. In your hometown, new buildings pop up and although most of them look the same, you have a dreadful feeling like your hometown is changing without you.
And finally, I'm sorry it took me moving away to realize that you'll never be the same as before I moved. The reality is that I'll probably never settle down in Goose Creek because it's not in my nature. I have a traveler's soul, and an ambitious soul, and Goose Creek is a bit too cramped for someone like me. I'm the type to live from big city to big city, to find myself and hopefully make some money, then settle down when the wind finally has nowhere else to take me. But I know that, if the big city gets too big or the wind takes me too far, I'll always have Goose Creek to come home to, to see my childhood home and the Walmart I've always lived behind and know I'm somewhere that loves me as much as I love it.
For all you seniors moving far away for college, especially the Goose Creek and Stratford seniors, remember the town that raised you, and know that it is always waiting for you to come back home.
