“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you.” F. Scott Fitzgerald.
My home town is a place where I have resided for the past twenty one years. It has been the place to house all of my memories as a child, and a teenager. As I have left and come back due to college, I have realized that I owe this town a lot.
This town has held all the good and bad in my life, all the twists and turns I have dealt with have been within the bounds of the county lines.
As I was in high school, full of angst, I used to say that I hated my town, and I could not wait to leave it. I soon came to learn that once I was placed at a new school, in a new area, with no one I knew around I began to long for the place I was so ready to forget.
From a child, I played round robins, kicked many soccer balls, caught many pitches and slid down many slides. My elementary school was where I learned to have creativity. The playground was where I made my friends who I still am in contact with to this day, so to that I am beyond thankful.
As I grew, I got to know the town better and better. I knew backroads, and every twist and turn that laid ahead of them. The older I got the more I learned, I knew never to take Germantown during rush hour because then I would be late to soccer practice. Also, that the mall was the place to be on a Friday night if you wanted to see your friends. These little details are the things I still remember because they were apart of me, though I had no idea at the time. As I grew, the more friends I made, connects I created, that have helped foster amazing relationships that I do not know where I could be without. To that, I owe the world.
I wish I could kick my younger self for wishing to never come back to my home town. There is nothing better than it, in all seriousness. To come to know a place like this , that is the powerhouse to all your memories is something that you can never replace or forget. I used to think all the little things about my town were the most stupid or annoying things in the world. Now as I’m gone I find myself wishing I could sit in traffic at home rather than the traffic here at school.
There is a sense of familiarity in being home. The streets I traveled with my best friend, the field I walked on to graduate, the paths I ran, everything brings you back. I don’t know what is a more comforting feeling than being home. Because no matter what, it will always welcome you with open arms and lasting memories. So don’t be so quick to run away from it all because you will never find a place quite like your hometown.
