As cliche as it may be, most people really do live in the same town their entire life until the day they leave for college. I, for the most part, did grow up in the same little town most of my life and for that time I couldn't wait to leave Morgan City and never return; however, I have taken a new perspective of my hometown.
What I have come to realize is that deep down even if we go through high school hating the town where we grew up in, it's so much a part of us that even if we promised to never return when we do it's never the same.
I moved about 30 minutes away from home, so for me it was not hard to visit nor did it stop my mom from sending "I want you home Friday afternoon" text that would interfere with my weekend plans. Even when I was in town, I mostly spend it at home watching movies or attempting to study. It wasn't until my parents left for Mexico and Texas that I really started to explore the town I grew up in and never before got to really know. I discovered the beauty to the town everyone seems to hate and the beauty no one appreciate. I actually walk by the river or sit on a bench watching the boats pass by on a sunny afternoon to get away from the world. I visit the art gallery that no one my age seems to know about. I drive down the historic district admiring the old fashioned architecture on afternoons where I have nothing to do.
Seeing people I once got along with in high school is a perk that has become a luxury. We're at the point in life where we lose friends because we're changing and moving on with our lives in different directions. It's just nice to have some people to remind us of a time where bills weren't our biggest worry and when we actually could go home and nap because mom is making dinner so we don't starve. Going back to our hometowns is our comfort zone whether we like it to admit it or not, it's like a blanket to a baby reminding us that no matter how much life changes or throws us around there is always a place where we can go and know everything will be okay.
It took moving away and going back to town for a day or the summer to realize that sometimes it's not just what is around us that impacts our way of life, but what we make of it. Even in the smallest of towns if you sit there saying there is nothing to do of course there will be nothing to do. It's all about looking at the bright side, away from our phones, and taking a few minutes to realize that it doesn't take much to make the best of life. Sometimes, all it takes to make a hometown less dreadful is to look at what you have to appreciate and take it from there.