Saturday, August 9, 2014

Home.

People have asked me before about where I am from.  For a long time, I didn't share much about the place I grew up.

There was a time that I wanted out of here.  I thought I would leave and never come back.  At the young age of 15, I also said I would never have children... you see how that worked out, right?

With time and age I have learned that growing up in a small town is a beautiful thing.

There are no words for the feeling you have when watching your children grow up in the same town you were raised in.  Surrounded my family and friends, you learn that it truly does take a village to raise a child.

My children are growing up and learning so many things that seem so insignificant to them now but will one day mean the world.

They will grow up waving at complete strangers that pass on the street because... well... it is the nice thing to do.  We wave at everybody.

They will grow up knowing a good majority of the people in our town.  We will grocery shop and have to stop 4 times to talk to someone we know.

They will grow up saying mam and sir, please and thank you, and know that tea should only be sweet.

They will grow up watching crops grow and be harvested.  They will know farmers and the amount of work it takes to put food on the table.

They will be raised as Godly children and hopefully be thankful for the little things.

They will grow up knowing that you buy the best meat at the Piggly Wiggly and the Food Lion deli biscuits are pieces of heaven sent here to earth.

They will grow up learning to drive a tractor or lawn mower before a car and know what stop signs they can avoid by using a dirt path.

They will know that Wednesday and Saturday are barbecue days and that Mr. Sam's gas station has the best hot dogs around.

They will grow up eating fresh tomatoes out of Jay and Poppy's gardens every summer and collard greens from the roadside stand every winter.

They will probably grow up and hate this place.  They will have big dreams to move away and never return.  And that might happen.  But my hope is that they see how lucky they are one day.  How lucky they are to grow up in such a beautiful, amazing place.

The town we grew up in may just be a map dot to some, but to us it is a lifetime of beautiful memories.

4 comments:

carol daniels said...

The description you gave sounds like a wonderful place to call home. There's something that draws us all home sooner or later in life. And, I think rural living is the best place to be, too.

So where is home for you?

Hailey said...

We love home! We are in Eastern North Carolina. We are a little over an hour from the coast and about an hour and a half from the capitol. Such a great place to live! Thanks for stopping by!

KatBouska said...

This post reminds me of my new favorite Tim McGraw song "Meanwhile Back At Mamas"...have you heard it? I sometimes wish we lived in a cozy town for my kids to grow up in. There's some real comfort in that!

"Cottage By The Sea" said...

All those things you mention in your post are all the ways I wanted to raise my kids. But alas, we never made it to a small town to live because my husband's work demands that we live in a big city. I'm thinking retirement? And I'm thinking you must be somewhere in the south - Georgia maybe? Well written; nice post.