Dear Place I Grew Up,

Thank you some of the best and worst memories ever. There is nothing like driving down back roads and remembering all the years I've driven them before. It's not really until you experience a new town that you realize how much you love where you came from.

When I was growing up, I never paid attention to the little things in town. Some things as simple as having a Super Target gets overlooked until you can't buy groceries in a normal Target. Not to mention when no one in your new town knows the small-business boutique everyone shops at back home.

Each thing, building, and street has a memory attached to it. Some of them aren't always good. I remember the exact spot that someone pulled out in front of me a week before graduation. My car was totaled. I hate the way I can't go to Walmart without seeing five people I know.

Thank you for being the home of my elementary, middle, and high school. Whenever I drive past the familiar building, a million memories flood in my mind.

Thank you for having some of the best and worst fast food. Sometimes I miss the way Chick-Fil-A at home makes fries versus the Chick-Fil-A here. I don't miss that little Chinese buffet with the food score of 39, but you win some and you lose some. Thank you for having multiple WAHO's to choose when I'm hungry.

Thank you for allowing me to grow up in such a cool town. I couldn't imagine life any other way.

Thank you for giving me a place to run to when the town I'm in now sucks.

Thank you for never changing. It's always nice to be able to know where exactly something is years later.

Thank you for being the place where my childhood memories live.

Thank you for showing me the good and bad in life.

Home is where the heart is, and the heart is in your hometown.

Sincerely,

Someone learning to live in a new town