For as long as I can remember, I have been dying to get out of my tiny, nosy, memory-ridden hole in the ground hometown. I’ve been counting down the days until college since my freshman year and I’m almost positive “I hate this place” or “I can’t wait to leave this town” was my status on my social media accounts daily throughout high school.

However, college kind of switched up my feelings on me. Here lately, I’ve found myself counting down the days until I can go home for Christmas Break to that place I just couldn’t wait to escape. But why? Do I just hate college? Of course not. Leaving for school was one of the best things I think I could’ve done for myself after graduation and I’m so in love with my life at college. But, did college mature me a bit and appreciate the small county that made me who I am today? Absolutely. Did college maybe even make me miss it a little bit? Let’s not get too carried away (Just kidding, it totally did). So as the Carrie Underwood song goes, “Thank God for the county lines that welcome you back in when you were dying to get out.”

Every street corner is filled with memories.

While a lot of these memories can be extremely painful to relive, a lot of them aren’t. And those that are, probably helped make you who you are today. That street corner over there? That’s where you and your friends used to meet after school on Fridays to walk to the Taco Bell down the street to eat before you had to go cheer the football game. The bathroom in third hall in the high school? That’s where you ran crying in a bathroom stall when you found out your “oh-so-awesome” football player boyfriend was cheating on you. It’s also where your best friend came when she ditched class to come running to your rescue, but most importantly, that’s where you were sitting when you realized she was your forever friend.

There are familiar faces everywhere you turn and almost everyone knows your name.

I’m almost positive my college campus is bigger than my town so it should come as no surprise that a lot of people don’t know or care who you are. There are new people to meet every time you turn around, which is not a bad thing… But it’s also really nice to have people who know you and grew up with you around you. One of my least favorite parts of coming home is running into ghosts from my past because it’s almost guaranteed in a small town that you’ll pass your ex-boyfriend on the road driving with his new girlfriend in the passenger seat or you’ll see that girl out who made your life hell in high school. However, seeing those who supported you and loved you throughout your first 18 years of life before you made a run for it almost makes you forget those negative encounters. There is no better feeling than see the teacher who made high school worth going to out at the local restaurant in town or having the elderly lady from church who watched you get baptized when you were 7 years old ask you how college is going.

Being in your own home with your family isn’t so bad either, right?

The only thing better than home cooked meals and showers that you don’t have to wear shoes in is having your family around to fall back on no matter how crazy they are. You’ve got to admit that it’s a pretty good feeling to have siblings to hang out with and to be able to have actual face to face conversations with your parents instead of just talking to them over the phone.

But most importantly, no matter how much you hate to admit it, that place made you who you are today and a piece of your heart will always stay there.