I grew up in a small town, with no traffic lights or McDonald's or hotels. I never realized at the time how strange it was that I had to drive 30 miles for any decent shopping or that being stuck behind a tractor was something you just expected. There was no QuikTrip right around the corner, and the closest place to a grocery shop was still 10 miles from my house.
When faced with the decision to choose a college, I knew I would never survive at a big state school. A few of my classmates made the decision to attend Mizzou, but all I imagined was getting lost on my way to class and swallowed up by a campus that was 35 times the size of my hometown. Instead, I opted for a smaller private college in yet another small town. However, it was a town big enough to have a Walmart and a handful of traffic lights, two things my hometown lacked. I grew used to living with roommates and being surrounded by friends, being able to make impromptu trips to Sonic at 10 p.m. or run to Walmart after class if I needed something.
I expected things to feel different when I left for school, so I was prepared to be homesick, to have to adjust. But home is always home, so I never expected to get a culture shock by moving back.
I was bored. Pacing around my living room, considering-running-laps-around-my-house bored. I even tried all the things that kept me busy in high school – reading, writing, playing guitar. I just wanted to hang out with my friends, take a late night trip to Taco Bell and drive the long way back so we can listen to another song. Instead,å I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with 10 miles to my closest friend and 20 to a Taco Bell.
Some people love a small town because everyone knows everyone, it is simple and not overcrowded, and people often take the time to care. When you drive past another car on the highway, you wave at them and they wave back, whether they know you or not (although chances are they do). Most of the kids you graduated from high school with (all 30 of them) started kindergarten with you 13 years earlier. Their parents likely graduated from there too, even their grandparents.
However, the average 18-year-old dreads staying in a town of 1000 people. They leave for college, find a job in a Big City with Big Opportunities to fulfill their Big Dreams. But their parents hope they come back, because “who can imagine raising a child in a city like that?” And sometimes they do come back, and they send their child to the same school they went to with 30 other kids they will end up graduating high school with.
I'm still a 20-year-old with Big Dreams, searching for the Big Opportunities that only a Big City can provide. But I made it through that summer with the help of a summer job and friends from high school. I swore I would never come back for another summer, but here I am again with another job and plans to spend time with friends. I keep telling myself that this is it, that after I move back to school in the fall, I will only come back here for holidays and weekend visits. This small town has a pull that I never thought I would feel, though, and maybe I will be one of the people to come back and send my children to my school. That pull is what keeps these small towns thriving.
