It is a fairly normal thought: I cannot wait to get out of my hometown! However, as I prepare for my college graduation, the prospect of leaving the place I am so comfortable with is scaring me to death.

I did not go "off" to college; my home is only 45 minutes away. I can go home on an afternoon if I get too homesick. I can travel along the backroads and reminisce about days as a teenager with her first car terrifying her friends as she takes curves too fast.

I remember the high school football games where I cheered on my best friends from the stands. I love how I can always go to the gas stations in town without prepaying. I'm pretty sure there won't be a Pal's in Pennsylvania, either.

I drive past my childhood home and see a little girl riding her bike and playing with her cats. My high school is in the middle of nowhere, and I drive to it and see the place I had my first wreck. I pass by the Hardee's that I stopped at every morning to get a bacon biscuit. I pass by the "Carhart Lot" where a bunch of good ol' boys sit and show off their trucks. I remember hanging out with one of my first loves there after school.

I see the library where I used to leave with armfuls of books, even at three years old. I drive down the main road where the Christmas Parade is every year. I can drive to the pool where I spent every day during the summer between my eighth and ninth grade year with my best friend. I remember all the boys I used to try to impress.

I go to the Pizza Plus where a couple of my friends from school work and we sit back and catch up. I drive by my elementary school and the old softball field where I met the first guy I ever loved. I still call the two playgrounds "old" and "new," even though the new one was completed when I was in fourth grade.

I see the middle school where I had the most awkward years of my life. I can also see the high school from there.

I remember that this is where I'm from. This is where my family has lived for years. This is what I'll miss. Even though I have spent my life trying to prevent ever living here when I'm older, I'm still fond of the place. I still feel a pride in where I'm from. I still think about those carefree days I spent in this place I've called home for almost 22 years. Now that I am getting ready to leave forever, I feel scared. But I also feel satisfied, because I feel as though my life was pretty great living here. Even though there was nothing to do, we always had fun with the simple things. I love this place, but I hate it, too, because there's nothing for me here career-wise. Because if there was, I would stay.

Here's to being from the middle of nowhere, and the simplicity of it. Thank you, Scott County, for the lessons you taught me. I hate you, but I also love you in a way that I couldn't describe with words. Even though I've looked forward to moving away since I was eight years old, I will miss you.