Hendersonville is a small town located 20 minutes from Nashville. For all of us that grew up there, we complained every weekend that there was nothing to do and that once we moved away, we were never coming back. However, after being away at college for two years, I've realized that Hendersonville was a pretty awesome place to go to high school. Here's seven reasons why high school in Hendersonville rocked a little more than we ever admitted.

1. High school rivalry was the best part of Friday nights.

No matter where you went to school, whether it be Hendersonville, Beech or Station Camp, you were a part of a rivalry. You have distinct memories of yelling insults to the other student section, and not talking to your friends from different schools when Fridays rolled around. Tailgating and painting up were rituals, and the boys that chose to freeze rather than put a shirt on during playoff season were the ones most loved and the ones with the most spirit.

2. You woke up extra early on Fridays so that you could follow all your friends in with a giant flag out of your sunroof.

The only thing that made us all get to school an hour earlier than we were meant to be. Painting the giant sheets with your school color and logo, and even going so far that a few people went and bought some legit ones. The success of your ride in was determined by how many cars and flags you could showcase down Gallatin Road, and whether you had more than the team you were playing that night. Everyone in Hendersonville knew, when a flag is seen, there are at least 20 more following it. Nothing could beat the rush of driving past your rival school showing off your march, and then rolling into school honking your horns and yelling out of car windows, already hyped up for that night.

3. You spent your weekends and nights after football games playing hide and seek with a box of ramen noodles.

Ah, find the ramen. An extreme version of hide and seek that was eventually outlawed by the Hendersonville police. For those of you that have never played, it all began with a drop by whoever had found it in the last round. Then a clue was tweeted, hinting at the location along with a picture. Then all hell broke loose. The only rule was the rule of boundaries, and that you had to hide it. The game caused so much reckless driving, trespassing, and almost wrecks, but no one really cared. We were having too much fun.

4. The annual CMA Fest was known as the county summer reunion.

Every June every high school and recent graduate made the trip downtown to Lot A to tailgate the CMA Fest concert series. Even if you didn't have tickets, you still made plans to tailgate, maybe even try to sneak into LP if you could. Those four days were known as the summer reunion, and you knew you'd see everyone that you knew or knew of in that parking lot. The stories from these four days seemed to be told over and over again, until the next year when there were new stories to be told.

5. You went and saw the Christmas lights at Opryland every single year.

The season of the lights at Opryland meant one thing and one thing only, they were a must-see. They were either viewed by young couples on first dates, or girls that made their boyfriends go every year to take a cliche picture in front of the giant Christmas tree. If you didn’t have a significant other to take, you either tweeted 24/7 that “all you wanted for Christmas was to go to see the lights,” or you went with a large group of friends. The illumination of the lights at Opryland was the one clear sign that the Christmas season had arrived.

6. A single snowflake got you excited because you knew that, most likely, you wouldn't have school the next day.

The one time of year we were all happy that Portland was included in our county. The time that the temperature dropped low enough that snow was an actual possibility. If we ever got the slightest hint it might snow, the grocery stores were cleaned out and the schools went on alert. If there was a dust of snow on the ground, it was almost guaranteed we wouldn't have school the next day. It made the cold months slightly bearable. The fact that it was so easy to get out of school, and that if we did we could laugh at the Pope John Paul II kids that still had to go, were the best part of winter in Middle Tennessee.

7. No matter where you go, Hendersonville will always be home.

Hendersonville embodies small town life, while in a big city setting. We grew up with the comforts of home, while also being able to explore life on our own. We had cliche high school sports, the ability to become cultural while still being close to home, and became independent as we explored Nashville by ourselves for the first time. No matter where you went to school, whether it be Chattanooga, UTK, WKU or some other school, coming back to Hendersonville will always be coming back home.

So there you have it, the top seven reasons high school in Hendersonville was awesome. Though it may not be as wild and crazy as Knoxville, Chattanooga, or some other college town, it was a great place to grow up and it's a great place to come home to during break.