Growing up in the same small town for your whole life, you see that there are three different types of people. The ones who want to stay in the town until the day they die, the ones who leave only to miss it and to come back, and the last group, the smallest group, the ones who leave the town and still don't want to go back. I am part of the smallest group.

I honestly barely even wanted to come back for summer break. I have never really fit in in my 'home'town and it never really even felt like home. While most people in town were interested in FFA or similar clubs, I was a yearbook nerd and became obsessed with the media. It wasn't that the people in my hometown and I didn't get along, we just had different dreams, passions, and ideas. Even with other students, we just found different things fun and entertaining.

I had known for a long time that I wanted to move away from the town I had spent my whole life in after high school and to start a new adventure. People tried to discourage me, even some who also wanted to get away from it as well, saying it was a black hole that we are all cursed to come back to the town. I remember being a freshman making the promise to myself that I was going to be different no matter what anyone said about me moving away.

My college town quickly became home to me. I had spent most of my life feeling out of my place like I wasn't where I belonged at all. When I moved so far away for college, I quickly understood why. The friends that I have met at college have become the some of the closest friends that I have ever had. They have also been some of my biggest fans, support systems, as well as striving for me to do my best. To have such great support from people who have only known me for about a year has shown me that sometimes you have to look for the right people who are going to be there for you.

You aren't always meant to stay where you're first put. Sometimes the first places are just to show you something that you need to know. For me, that was seeing my small town community come together whenever anyone needed it. Seeing my home church be there for each other in the hard times where bigger cities may not get that. It taught me how to put others first and see when my help is needed and to help out gratefully.

Even though I don't miss my hometown, and it never felt like home, it taught me valuable lessons that I wouldn't have received growing in a big city. And just because I didn't blend with the people there, it doesn't mean that the people there aren't amazing because they are. It just isn't where I belong.