Small town Iowa. What a place to grow up.
Luckily, I have had the opportunity to live in a small town for all of my life.
When I say small, trust me, I mean small. Small being, two hours from a big city, you know everyone and everyone knows you and seeing a tractor driving down the road is just a part of daily life. If you haven't gotten the idea already, you could say a good majority of my rural town consists of farmers. Growing up on a farm in a small town is actually a lot better than it may seem. You are allowed the freedom to roam and adventure, given the responsibility to have a job, and you are raised with a hard work and dedication mindset.
Now, if you happen to be one of the few that live in a small town but do not live on a farm or in the rural country, small town living may look a little different but will most likely have the same amount of spunk.
In my rural farming town, for example, high school kids will drive around on the same roads blasting music for hours. Some may pull into Sonic or McDonalds for a snack and then head back to the same driving loops for the rest of the night. Others may sit uptown talking to friends or driving loops talking and singing their favorite songs. From month to month and season to season, nothing changes, but this is what makes it fun. Driving around turns into, "Who's uptown tonight" and "Let's see if there's someone new we can hang out with."
Moral of the story, small town's are meant for driving in circles with friends, blasting music, getting ice cream until the wee hours of the morning. going sledding in parking lots and doing whatever deems fun at that moment.
In a small town, it does not matter if you're a farm kid or considered a "city" kid. People say "Hello" to everyone and call each other by name because, in reality, you'd be surprised if there was someone you didn't know and small towns are meant for lifelong friends and eating at your local, family-owned pizza place.
Cities may have more amenities, but the small town life is where it's at.
