I've lived in the middle of nowhere my whole life, and I am happy about it. When I say country, I don't mean a small area close to a city. The nearest place to where I live is a small village with a population of approximately 168. My house is surrounded by the woods, hay and cow fields. Our school district consisted of half our county residents. My graduating class was only 92, and we were one of the bigger classes. I love small schools, back roads and county fairs.

Small schools are the best. With only around 20 students in a class, the teachers know all the students very well. Because of this, I chose a small college. Country roads are the best. They are never busy, so they are great to drive on. They are very peaceful and make driving easier than a four-lane interstate. The first vehicle I passed was an Amish buggy. We never have any traffic or a rush hour. Small counties take pride in their fairs. More than half the kids are in 4-H and take projects to the fair, especially animals. I took rabbits to the fair for many years.

The close community is great, too, sometimes. Every time you leave your house, you can always count on running into someone you know. Sometimes this is good and sometimes you just aren't in the mood to see people. We also have great open spaces, a ton of fields and you can look at the stars all you want. As I said before with 4-H, there are a ton of groups you can get involved in. So, by the time you graduate high school, you will know basically everyone in the county, and everyone will have heard of you. Gossip does happen in small towns.

We don't have any big name stores in our villages. In our county seat, we have family-owned businesses and a few places like McDonald's. It is nice to walk around the small town and only pass a few people. It is so much better than a crowed street. A lot of people raise their own gardens and animals for food. We have a garden and have chickens so we don't have to buy eggs, and most people sell their eggs to other people. Yard sales are also very important in small towns, and a lot of people go out and hunt bargains.

It's so great to go to bed at night with the window open and all you hear are crickets and other bugs, and not cars and sirens. It's also so much safer than the city. You have a big front and back yard, so a ton of room for kids to run around. There are also really low rates of crime in the country. We don't have really any crime. I wouldn't trade living in the country these past 21 years for anything, but I know the day is coming where I'll need to move to a larger area for work. I'm happy to come from such a small area, and I am excited to see where this life takes me. I'll give the city a try, but, I feel that the country is the best place to raise a family. After all, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl.