You can take the girl out of the small town, but you can't take the small town out of the girl.

There is nothing better than growing up in a community where you can put a name to every face you see throughout the day. During my 21 years of life I have moved eight times. There have been some large cities, however, the majority of them have been small towns. My hometown was one of those small towns. I graduated with a class of 39 students, there were no stoplights, only one grocery store, and the closest mall was an hour and a half away.

The people in the community watched you grow from a child playing in the mud into a young adult graduating with honors from high school. It seemed they knew every detail of your life and could guess your next move before you made it. This sounds like an awful thing I know, but with that knowledge they were there to help you celebrate during your highs and comfort you during your lows.

If you weren't good at a sport it was okay, but if you were they'd treat you like a local celebrity. You’d get stopped in the store by a someone’s dad to talk about last week's game or patted on the back in the hall for winning your last meet. Your picture was in the Thursday paper, and hearing your interview on the radio gave you chills. All of a sudden kids looked up to you. I’ll never forget the feeling after winning a medal at state track and the pride I had in myself and my team. That’s how it was for every sport in our town. It didn’t matter who you were, everyone had the same goal: to feel that pride in themselves and to share it with the people that supported them.

You enjoyed the first real summer you've ever had surrounded by friends. Bonfires and fireworks lit up the sky. There were ponds calling your name and you spent more time in the water than you probably should have. Everything was perfect, and you'd lay under the stars at night and wish it would last forever.

But it doesn't last forever. In the blink of an eye you start your new life as an adult somewhere in the city, where there are no familiar faces, no fans rooting you on, and no stars to be seen. All of your old problems seem so small now. You don't know what's going on in your life, or what you want to do. That's when you go home. What matters in life is your happiness and if you lose yourself your hometown is sure to help you find your footing.