Everyone grows up hating their hometown.
Whether you admit it or not, there are times where you just want to pack a bag and never look back. As a writer, I have always thought about ditching my small town for a city like Chicago where the stories practically write themselves. It wasn’t until I moved to Naperville that I realized how little I had appreciated my hometown.
Fulton, Il. is one of those places that you drive through and think, “this is a cute little town”, only to forget about it five minutes later. We have few stores, no restaraunts and our main attraction is a windmill that honors the town’s Dutch heritage. It serves no real purpose aside from an answer to the question, “so what do you have back home?”
Moving to Naperville seemed like a dream come true for me. There were no useful opportunities for a journalism major back home. My community college actually told me that I would be better off transferring somewhere else if I wanted to gain experience in the field - so I did.
Transferring to North Central was an easy decision for me. I knew that I would be able to write for the school’s paper and there would be opportunities for internships in the city. In the one month I’ve lived in Naperville, I’ve done more for my future than I had in nineteen years at home.
Truthfully, it has been easy to forget about everyone and everything back home. Growing up in a small town where I’m related to essentially everyone has had it’s perks, but it’s mostly stagnant. Nothing exciting happens there, and nobody has done anything truly significant. It’s more so just this place I used to live rather than a part of who I am.
I haven’t felt the need to go home since I moved here, but everyone else says that going back is important. Avoiding home for a month was far easier than I thought it would be. This weekend, however, I decided that I should go back to see my family.
If I’m being honest, I just wanted to see my dog.
Either way, I made it back to Fulton and I was shocked by how nostalgic I felt. After all, it had only been a month since I’d been there. Nothing had changed - except for the way I was looking at that lazy little town on the Mississippi. I knew that something was different right away.
Breaking away from where you grew up, even if only for a little while, makes you notice the small details that you had grown accustomed to when you go back. Your perspective shifts, and all of those stupid little things you grew up hating are suddenly not so bad
I used to always hate how slow everything was back home, but that was the first thing I took notice of. There is no time to sit back and relax in Naperville - there is always something going on. It was refreshing to just walk around Fulton without worrying about getting hit by a Maserati, or wondering if you were dressed up enough to enter specific businesses.
The thing with small towns is that there isn’t this pressure to look or behave a certain way. Cities like Naperville are known for being picture-perfect, which is a great illusion, but it isn’t real.
Small towns can’t afford to put on a facade. They are unapologetically real and I think that’s why so many people from my hometown hate it there. We see these grand cities and conjure up some idea of a Pinterest-worthy lifestyle, which makes our real lives seem mundane.
After living in both a city and a small town, I have to admit that I do miss some parts of my hometown. I miss being able to see the stars at night instead of the lights from all the buildings, and I miss being able to go out without being surrounded by hundreds of people. Most of all, I miss the laid-back atmosphere.
What I don’t miss, however, is everyone’s desperation to get out of there. It isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be - it just takes some time to realize that.
I’m not going to pretend that I suddenly love Fulton, but I do have a deeper appreciation of where I’m from and I think that’s a step in the right direction.
