For those of you who were lucky enough to not grow up in the middle of nowhere, let me lay down just what a Friday Night Light town is.
1. Football is life.
I am talking about high school football. On Friday nights at 7 pm is when the religion of the south gets underway. In order to get a seat, you probably should have shown up about an hour early. In order to get a parking spot, maybe an hour and a half. Everything in town is shut down because of the football games; this includes restaurants, stores, everything. Because nobody wants to miss a football game.
2. You can count all the stop lights with one hand.
It isn’t like the bigger towns where there are probably 20 or 30 lights, no there are only 5 or 6. They are not on a timer like ones in bigger cities, they switch based on whenever a car pulls up.
3. The best restaurant EVER is attached to a gas station.
Yes, it is a small building that holds magic inside of it but it is attached to a Citgo or an Exxon or something like that. Oh yeah, normally the gas station itself has a county agreed upon name.
4. There is one high school.
Not only is there only one high school but it isn’t very big. You know everyone you graduated with, heck you know everyone in the school. And most likely you actually know all your teachers, personally, outside of school. Meaning you probably go to church with them, because everyone goes to one of the fifty churches in the county limits.
5. You are related to half the town.
This is why it is important to tell your mother the name of the guy that you are having a thing with… because you don’t really know if he/she could be your cousin.
6. There are 10 different dollar stores.
Or Subways; these are the most popular stores ever and it seems every week there is sign that a new one is being built.
7. Homecoming is the most important week of the year.
There is a parade; that shuts down half the town. But most importantly there is homecoming court. There are around 8-18 young ladies who dress up in gowns and ride in the cars for the parade and county pep rally on Thursday. Followed on Friday by the suits and derby hats at halftime when we find out who the Queen is.
8. There is nothing else like it.
It is home after all.
