I'm sitting in my parents' living room, surrounded by dogs and watching the snow fall, blanketing the fields and trees around the house.

There are no other houses packed around us, no trains blaring through, and no loud vehicles zooming by.

It's just one of the many joys that come with spending time at my childhood home over winter break. After living in a small city for a few years while I go to school, I am becoming even more appreciative of attending a small school and growing up in the middle of nowhere.

This doesn't seem like much of an exaggeration to me, but driving 23 miles into town every day got old really quickly. When I was in high school, I hated living so far away from town. Every trip to get to school or spend time with friends or my boyfriend required a lot of planning, time, and asking permission from my parents.

I loathed having to spend so much time each day in the car, spending too much money on gas every week. And if the weather was less than desirable, forget about driving anywhere at all.

The worst part was having to spend my eighteenth birthday stuck at home, literally snowed into our house.

Looking back now, I wouldn't change anything. Sure, it would have been great to live even ten miles closer to town, but the house and the land where I'm from helped shape the person I am today.

Growing up in the house where my dad also spent his childhood has meant so much to me. My brother and I got to climb the same tree in the backyard that my dad did. We played in the same sandpit behind the shed. We went sledding down the same hill that I can see from the living room.

The kind of peace and quiet that comes from being this far out in the country can't be found anywhere else. There is nothing like the tranquility that comes from being lulled to sleep by chirping frogs in the summer, or being outside during the utter silence of lightly falling snow.

Of course, this peace is disturbed by cackling chickens and honking geese, but these critters just add to the country charm. I got to grow up learning the value of daily chores, having to wake up every morning and make sure all the animals have food and water.

I don't think nextdoor neighbors in town would have appreciated waking up at four in the morning to five roosters crowing, but I eventually got used to it.

Although it is nice to live in town and have ultra-easy access to McDonald's and Target, I spend a lot of my time wishing I could be at home watching Saturday Night Live reruns with my parents, attempting to cram onto the couch with the three dogs.

I will go on to have my own house someday, whether or not it is within city limits. All I know now is that my heart will always belong here, out in the sticks.