Growing up, I hated where I am from, and I mean hated it. I could not stand the two lane roads, how everyone knows everyone, and how there was literally nothing to do (like seriously, the closest movie theatre was twenty minutes away!!) Now, I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and even though I love this city and I love my school, I miss my small town more and more every day.

My hometown has approximately 4,500 people in it, with three elementary schools that all feed into one high school, so all of us have grown up together our entire lives. Growing up, I was extremely close with my parent's friends' kids and then middle school hit. We ended up all going our seperate ways throughout middle and high school and formed our own groups of friends. However, we have recently all found our way back to each other after coming to the end of our first year of college and I give the credit for that, to our hometown. We are all connected by this town, so when one of us is there, we wish the rest were, and vice versa. Being able to come home, means being able to see those people again, and imagining things are "like they used to be".

Now that I am in college, I crave my hometown. I want those two lane roads, knowing people I pass on the street, and nights where I can look up and see all the stars, more than anything. Coming back home, is a real reward for me now, and I never thought it would be. My family is here, some of my best friends are here, and a piece of my heart is here. People say you never understand how much you appreciate something until it is gone, and I never understood what they meant until now. This town will always have a piece of me. It is where I learned how to ride my first bike, where I spent every Friday night with my Grandparents, and where some of my best memories are. Is it true that "Home is where the heart is"? Personally, I think home is where the memories are. A place where one song, one smell, or one word can take you back to the place you grew up in.

When I come home, my favorite things to do are: go to my favorite restaurants, watch TV with my mom, and take long drives with the windows down on those two lane roads. If I had the chance to go back in time to change anything, I would not. This place has helped shape me into the person I am today, and has had an affect on the person who I want to become. Without this place, I would not have had the chance to grow up staying with my grandparents every Friday night, have my best friend live 0.7 miles away from me, or fall in love with the stars.