Remember that old playground we all used to meet up at as kids? Or how about that fast food place that everyone would ride their bikes to in the summer? Then there was playing outside with the neighbor kids until the sun went down and we had to come inside. When you picture what a small town should be, these recreations might come to mind. A small town could also make you think about run-down bars, farm fields and tractors, and houses in little neighborhoods. A town so small that you pass by the same people every day on your morning commute to get coffee, or a town so small that it contains no more than a mere thousand people. All that may be true for most small towns, but here’s the difference with my small town ... There are more than 25,000 of us.
With three elementary schools, two middle schools and one big high school with a graduating class of almost 400, our small town became not so small anymore. This town grew into a place where people stick around instead of passing through, and the most important aspect about this city is the people who grew up in it.
Remember that old playground? Yeah, that’s where it all started. But that playground grew into seven or eight playgrounds as the years went on. Remember that one fast food restaurant we all rode our bikes to? Well, now we choose which one we’re driving to; there's never too many options. Remember playing outside with the neighbor kids until the sun went down? Now we’re driving all over town in the middle of the night with our friends, later meeting up at the local hardware store to park our cars and trucks for hours on end. The more that come, the greater the shenanigans. It never gets old.
Then there are the high school homecoming games. I remember when the bleachers could maybe fit half of our grade back in middle school, but these days, you’re one of the lucky ones if you even get near those bleachers. Otherwise you’re stuck walking around, shoulder to shoulder, in a cluster of thousands of people of all ages. When one lap around the area is enough credit for showing up, that’s about the time you celebrate homecoming from across the parking lot walking to your car.
Why can’t this town have more than one lake? Can’t they see there are not enough grains of sand for every person in town? We end up laying on towels of the strangers next to us. Wait, did I say strangers? I meant every familiar face from everybody around here because there is nothing better to do than be at the lake this time of year. Well, at least the lake is big.
Most cities have their little fair or carnival every summer. Well, we do too. Except I don’t know if people actually realize there is a carnival going on. The location of the event starts out as a little-kid mania throughout the day, then by night, turns into a giant high school reunion for everyone that has left for college all year. A place high schoolers go to have their reunion as well; you know, because they haven't seen each other in a whole eight days since school ended for the summer. Sooner or later, you’ve gone a couple hours at this rager, and decided you have seen enough of these people to last you a lifetime. Until you’re back here again next summer.
Our city started as a city in the dirt and dust, and it didn't even have the fame to appear on a map back in the day. All of a sudden, everyone seemed to appear at once, and to this day we still know each other. I realized that no matter where I go, what I do, I’m stuck seeing these people everywhere I go, whether I love them or envy them. That was the moment I realized my small town wasn’t so small anymore.
