A familiar statement made by almost every cliche teenager who had/has big dreams for their future "I can not wait to get out of this town."had also once, went through my mind. To further explain, I thought the town I lived in once was a terrible place where I could not grow as a person. However, as I drove away from this very town, towards my new home almost two hours away, I couldn't help but reflect.

Calhoun is in a bit of an awkward placement in North Georgia; it is not Dalton, but pretty far away from Atlanta. It was a place where I lived for a bit more than two years. I attended Sonoraville high school from the end of sophomore year until I graduated with the class of 2018. I believe it is safe to say that those two years, was where my life changed drastically. You see, it was here in this town, yes the one everyone wanted to get away from, where I learned the most important quality to humans. Love.

Calhoun, Georgia, was the place I learned what true, genuine love, looked like. No, don't click off of this passage just yet, because I assure you this is not about my own personal love story. This is about my home.

The town I lived in before, and the school I had attended, only taught students the difference between Answer A, and Answer C. This held no comparison to what I saw with certain teachers at Sonoraville High School.

I saw the love of a teacher, who drove about two hours away from his very home to teacher students how to lead and become better citizens. As well as teaching, he was also one of my mentors, who was always ready to sit and talk if anyone ever needed. School usually ends at three, however this teacher stayed till six or even seven, to coach a sport only few were interested in. He always made sure we learned thoroughly, as well as keeping students amused. He was one of the hardest working teacher's who always put forth his all.

Then there was the love, and compassion of an English teacher, who never let her student's give up on writing and would persuade the classroom to "Free Write" every single day. I will go ahead and apologize for the terrible grammar and sentence structure. This is to you, who lit the flame of my passion of writing, and who filled their room with inspirational quotes. This includes "You can make anything by writing;" a quote by C.S Lewis, which was written on decorative paper on the back wall. I spent a good five minutes every day, reading and copying down those quotes.

The respected love, from the senior class as they gathered together to remember one of our own.

The love of my coworkers at the Wendy's I worked at for almost a year. It was a difficult job, with not many friendly and fair faces. But the two people who always made me laugh and lift my spirits will always hold a nice place in my heart.

I did not only witness love at the school, but in my home as well. My mother showed me the greatest love of all, as she constantly works hard to make sure everything we needed as a family was provided. This meant getting up at 3 am. I am always grateful, because yes mom, I saw you struggle. But I never saw you give up. Thank you. Also to my father, who worked for twelve hours almost everyday, to make sure we were always happy.

At my old school and town, I was never good at making friends. I always had that one good one. Well plot twist, because in Calhoun i felt the love of two excellent friends that I never knew I would find.

In the beginning we were a group of four, always together, never too far apart. However, four shrunk to three, and it was tough. But Ashlea and Hannah, this is to you. Because everyone always says that you won't find your 'forever friends' until you reach college. These two girls are my exception. They showed me that you didn't have to deal with being taken for granted just to be friends with someone. Hannah and Ashlea were the ones who saw me at my worst and loved me enough to become my very best. They showed me the true meaning in friendship, and I still feel that love from them and for them as I write this.

And of course I had to include the love I felt and learned from a guy, and yes, just like every cliché, this is my high school romance. Whoops. After never truly having a real image of a good guy, besides my father, I have been always nervous to date. I kept to myself and never pursued. Until one guy gave me the guts too. And never have I regretted this decision. Because the love I learned from this guy, changed me, and I do not want to go back. Without knowing, he taught me that it is okay to open up, and give yourself to another person. He showed me how good a relationship with a genuine person could be. It is crazy that I never would have met him if I would not have moved. And if the odds is against him and I, and we do not end up together, I will be okay with that. Because I will never forget what he had taught me, about myself mainly, and I will carry that with me as if it was tattooed on my body.

Now I am not saying that Calhoun is the magical place of love, because it does have its people that could be nothing but bad towards you. Oddly enough, I learned how to love them too. However, it is my home, and while I live miles away from it, I am forever grateful of living in this small town for the two years that I did. All in all, I ask every one who moves away from home to never dismiss the place that built you, you would not be the person you are without the place you call, your home town.