As I started driving south, out of town this past August, on my way to a brand new life, I couldn’t help but be excited to finally leave you and all of the “small town drama” you brought to me. I was so ready to be gone. I had done my part in high school, being a part of almost every club, organization, and sports team. I had attended every prom, homecoming, and sweetheart dance possible. I’d dealt with my fair share of petty drama and friendships that probably would last past graduation. I couldn’t wait to start my new life in a place where I could walk outside and not have every person in town know each detail of my entire life.

Fall has now come around and I can’t help but be a little sentimental when as I walk to class with the colorful leaves crushing against my shoes and that fall smell in the air. I think about how things were at this moment a year ago, I was probably anticipating the rival football game at the end of the week, attending the annual fall festival, or hearing about who started picking corn this early. Now that I am in college, I find myself thinking about all the things that made me feel so comfortable in my little town. How walking into the store meant being congratulated on your most recent FFA contest, or meeting a stranger in the street who somehow knew you were your parents' kid. The things that never even registered to me when I was at home have somehow now become the things I miss the most.

Although I am happy to be in my new home, busy with sorority life, class midterms, and friends, I am reminded daily that those “small town things” maybe weren’t such small things after all, but actually big things in a small place. I am grateful every day to have grown up in a place where everyone cares, loves, and looks after each other… maybe it just took leaving for a while to realize it.