Everyone knows the typical small town: a single traffic light, quaint diners, loco locals and maybe a bar. While this description isn't completely wrong, there is more to a small town than "city folk" might think. Here are a few things that anyone who grew up in a small town knows to be true:
1. Traffic jams are not really traffic jams.
OK, they aren't, but our "traffic jams" are always caused by one of two things: a tractor or a parade. There is no such thing as rush hour. Small town rush hour is when school lets out for the day, but even then it's easy to make it out of town in three to five minutes, tops.
2. Everyone knows you. Literally everyone.
In a small town, you're bound to be famous. Teachers know you, the dentist is a good family friend, the woman who works at the laundromat is your babysitter and the mailman is your pastor. If you want to get away for awhile, you'll have to go far, far away.
3. You've played in a corn field at least once in your life.
For me, it was more than just once. One might call my siblings and I the "children of the corn" (no, not the creepy Stephen King version). It's actually a lot more fun than you might think. For some people, corn fields are the second most boring thing in the world, ranked just under watching your mother drool when she sleeps. Those of us who grew up playing in corn fields know that it's great fun. I've made a tremendous amount of "houses" in the corn fields near my home. We all know the pain of the scratches and rashes from the stalks, though. Ouch!
4. "Bring Your Tractor to School" day.
Yes, it's a real thing. No, it's not just a story that locals tell. "Bring Your Tractor to School" day is the highlight of many students' year. On this day, instead of cars in the parking lot you will see tractors everywhere. It's actually quite amusing.
5. Trying to tell people from out of town where you live.
"If you take this highway up to this city and keep going for about 5 miles, take this exit, take a left at the corn field, take a right at the pond and another right at this other corn field, you'll make it to a town that mine is almost near." It's safe to say most people have never even heard of your town, let alone know where it is.
6. You know everyone you graduated with.
I graduated with 51 other students in my class, and I'm always amazed when I hear of other schools graduating 500+ students at once. That's about the size of my whole district. For those of us who were part of a small school, it's hard to imagine not knowing some of our classmates.
7. You wouldn't change it for the world.
Everyone who has grown up in a small town has wanted to fly the coop at one point or another, but almost no one actually goes through with it because even though we get sick of the small town life, we know that there's no place we'd rather be.
