Your hometown is your comfort zone, but sometimes it gets too comfortable. By the time you end high school, you are so ready to abandon that place. You're tired of everyone knowing you, tired of the seeing the same people everyday, doing the same things on the weekend, and talking about the same things. But once you leave, you begin to question if you should have stayed. You get into a strange place where no one knows you, you aren't comfortable, and the new is uneasy until you adjust. At some point, you'll adjust, and the next time you drive into that familiar place you've always called home, a flood of memories, lessons, and appreciation will fill your mind. Eventually, you'll probably move back, because everyone does, and where else would you call home?
My hometown is a small town filled with lots of land that comes with farm animals, trains, and Santa Fe Pride. When I left I couldn't wait to get away from the everyday scene, but looking back I am so thankful for this family of a town. To start, my hometown taught me how to love. If I had a dollar for every time 12,000 people came together to rally for one family in need, I could support the whole town. It could be a stranger, or your neighbor, if they are in need, my hometown will help. I learned a lot about hard work, I'd be damned if I didn't put all of my effort into everything I did do, and luckily everyone I grew up with is like this. This could have been installed from the infamous volleyball coach, Coach Mill, or from my 4-H family who helped me with every animal I ever showed in the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo.
Among everything else, I learned how to appreciate the little things, if you're still there, you probably won't but you will. There is no other place like Santa Fe, Tex. There is no other Red Cap that will stay open, because they know the football game just ended and people will be hungry. There is no other grocery store where you can walk into and someone will ask about your grandparents by name. There is no other high school reunion like the GCF&R. There is no other high school that that has a bandstand that you can sneak out to in the middle of the night to watch the stars from. There are no other games that you can paint up for and bring obnoxious props to and it be socially acceptable. There is no other English teacher like Mrs. Hoff. There is no other patience like getting stuck behind the railroad tracks, and no other simplicity like our back roads. There are no better memories than pasture parties. And there is no better family than the people in my hometown.
I learned a lot when I left, but I learned the most from living in my hometown. You don't see this until you leave, but when you hear all the songs on the radio about hometowns, homecoming, and heaven, you'll think of your little slice of heaven, your hometown, your Santa Fe.
