1. O.J. Howard
2. Prattville Creek
Many of us remember the traumatic experience of walking over the unnecessarily sharp pebbles of Prattville creek barefoot to take senior pictures. Your photographer likely asked you to sit in it as if it was not a giant body of dirty water and most of our pictures came out looking like we had risen from a watery tomb as a result (I know mine did). My photographer tripped and fell down the hill before tripping and falling into the creek a few minutes later, so that’s that.
3. No hope
You knew what this was about before you even started reading it. Stanhope - the biggest rivalry and the most fun and drama-filled game. Each year, the field somehow separates two schools that are close together yet vastly different. No one really knows why this game is such a big deal apart from the usually close scores but it is.
4. Behind the bleachers is a terrifying place
Nothing good happens under, around, or about there. Nothing.
5. The Power "P"
Everyone had at least one thing with this on it.
6. Hidden gems
You tell people about them like you are reading a mystery novel…. the waterhole and the bamboo forest. These are the things that make Prattville one of a kind.
7. Bear Creek Swamp and the Cotton Gin
There are eight million stories about what mysterious creepy haunted things happen in these places and no one will ever know the truth. Either way, you know not to ride anywhere screaming anything about babies with any windows down. Enter at your own risk or better yet, abort mission, say you did, and read about these haunted places online.
8. High school hangouts and parking lot parties
On weekend nights, you would find that the parking lots were where the party was. Wherever you told your parents you were, you probably weren’t. Unless you were at the movies with most of Prattville, you were likely in the parking lot of someplace sitting on the bed of a truck talking about a whole lot of nothing instead. There is also a good probability that this parking lot was located in front of the bowling alley or the skating rink. This is how you know you are from a small town.
9. Osaka
You know that the real Taste Good is Osaka. Do I need to say anything else?
10. You ran for your life and your freedom of expression
You and your distracting shoulders and exposed knees were likely chased around in your junior high/high school days by someone with a ruler, duct tape, or someone screaming about how you can’t use your phone anywhere ever.I think we can all relate to this experience. All of us.
11. You claimed there was nothing to do until you found out about SlapOut
“Blink and you miss it,” we’ve all heard it. We love to claim our town is small and there is literally nothing to do, not a single thing, but when we look around us we realize we’re actually the place to be for most places.
12. The health baby and the worst weekend of your life
There are likely very few children that are as difficult to please as that piece of plastic. Did it want to be fed? No. Need to be changed? Nope. It would cry in the middle of your classes on Friday and it would not stop. It just would not.
13. Freshman Friday
Prattville has all but done away with it now (small blessings) but who could ever forget the pure terror of being a freshman… All you wanted to do was look cute for your first day of school and instead you were covered and smothered in silly string, egg yolk (unnecessary), and water balloons. The seniors would ride in on giant, much too loud trucks, with much too big signs, claiming that they were superior to you and it was terrifying.
14. Senior celebrations
On the flip side, we all remember rolling the school and how we felt like bandits in the night, throwing toilet paper as hard as we could from rooftops, trees, and anything we could get on. We also remember the infamous overhead speaker announcement the next day demanding that we clean it all up.
15. Snow days
We all remember the couple of times it has snowed in Prattville. A couple inches? Get out your sled and snow suit. You likely tried to build a very sad snowman out of what little snow there was to work with and if your family is anything like mine, you put the snow balls in the freezer in hopes of prolonging this whole “winter” thing.
16. Friday night football and the glory years
Friday nights were what you lived for and Stanley-Jenson stadium was the place to be. Nachos with fake cheese, a group of random guys with Prattville spelled out on their chests in the wrong order, and a whole lot of sweating. These are the things we live for and we will never, ever, ever let people forget about the state championships, ever.
As much as we claim to hate this (no longer small) small town of ours, it is home. It is our town, no matter how small or insignificant it seems to other people. For me, this is the place where my fondest memories were made with some of the greatest friends I'll ever have. So, no matter where life leads me and no matter how much this little town changes while I'm away, it will always hold a place in my heart and I will always return.
