I can honestly say I had no intentions of falling in love. I had no intentions to feel the things I have felt, to see the things I have seen, or to meet the people I have met. But today, I can honestly look at this town and say, "Clemson, I love you."
Charleston is home. It always has been and it always will be. It has a smell that I can't explain. But every time I get off of the interstate and on to Highway 17, the windows go down and my senses open up. Salty air and all, it has a smell. It has sounds that I can't explain. People, animals, nature, and food cooking are all things I hear when the windows go down. It has a sound. It has a look that I can't explain. It's warm and happy. Palm trees and sweet grass baskets and the whole southern sha-bang. It has a look. And it's home.
Going to college, I expected to feel a hype at football games. I expected to meet new people and to like the school a lot. But I never expected to fall in love with another place, and I never expected to feel so at home somewhere else. But like Charleston, Clemson has a smell. It's not salt water and seafood, but its freshly cut grass and hamburgers on a fall morning. It's sounds aren't waves crashing or crickets chirping, but it's 80,000 people screaming for a team in Death Valley. It's look isn't palm trees and sweetgrass baskets, but it's orange everywhere, including the clay in the countless hills.
In the midst of not forgetting where I came from, I fell in love with a new place. I fell in love with a small town, where almost everyone knows their neighbors. A small town, where the energy and excitement for a team creates one of the loudest and most satisfying noises i've ever heard. A small town, but a place where I get to talk to the people in the grocery store about how school is going. A small town, but a place where love and joy is so prevalent.
How blessed am I to have been raised in a place where love always triumphs, where no amount of gun shots or hatred can disrupt the perseverance and joy of civilians? How blessed am I to have been raised in a place where I can drive 15 minutes to stick my toes in the sand? How blessed am I to have gone to one of the top high schools in the nation, where possibilities are limitless?
And how blessed am I to have been accepted to the top university in my state, and one of the top universities in the nation? How blessed am I to be able to continue receiving exceptional education, in a place that makes me feel so warm? How blessed am I to go to a school whose "underdog" football team went to the national championship? How blessed am I to go to a school where the education is rigorous, but on Saturdays thousands of us get to put down the books and put on our orange?
So that's my love affair. My accidental love affair with two towns. Two towns that have shaped me and continue to shape me. Two towns that show love always. My love is for two towns that inspire me to persevere no matter what. Two towns in my heart. Two homes in one place.
