I have grown up in the same county for a large majority of my life. I have watched trees be torn down for a new shopping center, neighborhoods spring up, and school zones change more than once. I have a small handful of friends I still talk to from elementary school, and many I’ve known since sixth or seventh grade when we all went through the awkward and ugly stages of puberty together.

However, none of us are exempt from time moving forward and many of us have went our own ways, be it enlisting in the military, going off to college, or moving long before the present day. I’ve complained about my hometown just as everyone else, but at the end of the day my heart will miss the place I grew up.

I was lucky to grow up in Virginia, where the entire attitude towards life can change within a two-hour drive. From Shenandoah’s gentle valley where the fall season is hands down most beautiful, to the tourist destination known as Virginia Beach, there are hidden gems in between I’ve grown to know and love. It is in Virginia I have gone swimming in waterfalls, laid on car roofs watching the stars, and driven on backroads blaring show tunes. It is in Virginia I have fallen in love, drank too much sweet tea and complained about the ghastly humidity.

Most of the friends I had in high school could complain endlessly about how boring it was to live here, but at the end of the day it was always what you made of it. From the major concert venues where big and small names alike came to perform, to local bands who play in bars or stuffy basements, it was never hard for me to find something to do if that’s what I chose. We have amusement parks like Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens, the Virginia Zoo and aquariums spread from coast to state line. Closer to the coast you can drive about fifteen minutes in any direction to stumble upon a river, and out in the valley there are a million and two hiking trails. Not to mention all the free gardens and museums our state is known for.

It is here one can find the Blackfriars Playhouse, the only recreation of the original Blackfriars Theatre in London that was demolished centuries ago. Just about anywhere you can find history from civil war parks to old lighthouses and the land where the first permanent settlement in America was founded. Which all Virginians know, because Virginia history is taught entirely interwoven into American history. Fieldtrips included.

In exactly one week I will leave the state I hold near and dear to my heart. I will travel 2000+ miles to a new life, because let’s be honest, some US states are large enough to be their own countries.

I’ve been told by just about everyone I’ve spoken with that Montana is 100% what you make of it. But I think I’ll be alright. I already learned that lesson from Virginia.

And there is nothing like laying on car roofs and listening to music, watching the world go by on a Tuesday night.