I was born in a small town, but I moved in the second grade. I moved to a much busier town whereas my birthplace was quiet. But because I moved at a young age I really don't remember the town I was born in nor anyone one in it besides my family.

Once I graduated high school my parents decided to move back to what they knew as home for them. At first, I didn't think much about it because at the time it was my summer going into my first year of college. My mentality as a teenager was wanting to go here and there I never really thought about it. But I don't think it was until the boxes and furniture were in the U-Haul that this move was not a dream. I came to the realization that when I come home from college I won't be able to go to my grandparents' house, hang out with my friends that I went to high school with, or hangout with my boyfriend and his family.

I’m not going to lie I used to not like coming to a place that was unfamiliar to me. I wanted to go back to what I knew — what was home to me. And what I grew up with.

Since I was away at school, I didn’t get the chance to really adjust to the small lifestyle like the rest of my family did.

Small adjustments like having the grocery store twenty minutes away instead of a five-minute drive like I was used to. And because my parents downsized, I now did not have a room of my own.

Even before I was done with my freshmen year in college I was already making plans to go where I used to live. And I know to my parents, it may have seemed like I didn’t want to be home but that really wasn’t the case. It was that I still wasn’t familiar because I had only visited three times while I was in school.

Now that I am back to visit for the summer my views have changed on living in a small town.

I’ve been home for about a month and I’m really getting why people love living in a small town. Everybody knows everybody. If people are home they leave their doors open, and people are super friendly here whether they know you or not, as well as it’s normal to see your family at least once a week or more instead of only seeing them at family functions.

Looking back to what I used to think about living in a small town I was a little too quick to judge. Everyday since I’ve been in this small town, I have become more familiar with it. Now familiar enough to call it home.