Growing up, I moved around a lot. Not necessarily to a bunch of different cities, but to different houses. The majority of my life was lived in Baton Rouge, so with all things considered, I like to think of Baton Rouge as my hometown. I grew up surrounded by people who bleed purple and gold and only know the LSU way of life. I felt pretty out of place when people started to talk about LSU because I was never passionate about it the way everyone around me was. I did not grow up going to LSU games, I never spent Saturday nights in Death Valley, I did not know the cheers and the chants, and I most certainly did not bleed purple and gold.

I spent my Saturdays in Hattiesburg, Mississippi cheering on the Golden Eagles and yelling "Southern Miss To The Top!" I was bleeding black and gold while everyone back home just did not understand. When it came time for me to start deciding where to go to college, I was faced with hard decisions, but one decision was easy: I was not going to go to LSU. I was leaving Baton Rouge and not looking back. I wanted something different. Something that was not the same thing that everyone else I went to school with was going to have. I spent many hours trying to decide how far away was too far, how many hours would I be willing to drive to school, and planning out my future. While many things were not certain, I was certain I was moving out and moving on.

Baton Rouge has definitely changed from what it once was. Especially with all the recent events such as the shootings and the flooding, what I used to know and love about Baton Rouge is gone. I find that the sense of community that should be present is usually lacking or non-existent. It can be there for fleeting moments, such as right after the flooding, but then fades away again. Now I know plenty of people in Baton Rouge who always have that "all in this together" drive about our city, but if you look at Baton Rouge as a whole in the big picture, the majority of the city does not feel that way and if they do they do not show it very well.

I ended up going to college in Lafayette and it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I found wonderful friends that have turned into family and I finally found that community feeling that I had lost in Baton Rouge. Lafayette gave me the sense of belonging and the feeling that I could relate to everyone else. So while I will always call Baton Rouge home, this is a farewell to my hometown. Thank you, Baton Rouge, for the memories. Thanks for having the amazing elementary school and high school that shaped me into the person I am today. Thank you for being a home to those teachers and friends who guided me along the path I took. Thank you for the wonderful weekend adventures I had and thanks for being an awesome town when I needed you to be. You were a cool place to live sometimes and you will always be home. However, this is goodbye Baton Rouge. I do not think we were meant to be in each other's lives forever, and I doubt I will ever move back to you. It was a fun run while it lasted. Stay golden.