I wasn't raised in a small town. Well, when I was younger it was sorta small, but they managed to build model homes by the thousands in the span of a few months by the time I was ten.
I was raised with five dairy farms within walking distance and the word Spring was associated with baby cows flocking the fences trying their new legs on for size.
In my backyard, we had horses, pigs, cows, chickens, a rabbit, and at one point my brother saved a pigeon. Animals became a staple for our family and it was not something any of us complained about.
My brother and his friends became my friends and we would race our bikes down our street and up a hill that, at the time, seemed like the most difficult thing we would ever have to conquer.
We would pick mulberry off the trees by our bus stop because they were beyond delicious and free.
My brother and his best friend used to use me as an excuse when we would sneak onto the golf course near our house. The golfers would never tell on a five-year-old blonde girl who was looking for her lost cat.
Dirt, grass, trees, bruised knees, calloused hands, and way too many horror themed TV shows decorated the endless number of sleep overs that we all would have.
When my sister came along it only added to the excitement. Siblings are free friends who are forced to like you forever. If you angered her in the right way she managed to use all of what height she had to take you to the ground. I still lost every battle to this day.
By the time I reached middle school we no longer had the farms within walking distance or were able to sneak on to the golf course. We still don't have concrete sidewalks, but majority of the neighborhood now does. Instead of mulberry's we have trees that only blossom for three days out of the year and bushes that grow flowers the reek and not in a good way. We no longer have cows, chickens, horses, or anything other than dogs.
We no longer ride our bikes down the street and race up the hill, but based off of birthday traditions we still have horror themed shows fill our October nights.
By now we have all moved away, but no matter how far we move we won't forget the way our town moved us as well as how we moved it.
It's important to know where you came from in order to know where you are going.
