Wednesday, June 24, 2009

small town

Photo here.

I spent my teenage years in a very small, rural town. It was home in all of its innocent, old fashioned, gossip-filled, hard-working beauty.

When I left my small town, I wrapped it up in a delicate little package and tied it up with string so that it would never change.

For a long time it didn't. But little by little things ripped into the little package. Changed what I thought was unchangeable, altered the little world in ways I didn't think fathomable.

Small towns are something only people from small towns can understand. The dynamic of the community, the strength of the people, the beauty in the little things. It's an amazing place that I will always be proud of.

Today I miss the little package I tied up.

19 comments:

Jen said...

I would have loved to grow up in a small town. Sometime I feel jaded living in such a huge city, and that makes me sad. It makes me feel like I need to get away quite a bit.

Amy Jo said...

I grew up in a town with 2400 people and only 2 stoplights. I graduated with a class of 68 people and to be honest.....I loved every minute of it!!

Jessie said...

I love this sentiment about where you grew up, and I can relate a little because I don't like seeing my old neighborhood change either.

:)

Would a piping hot stack of tortillas make it better?

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

I love the charm of a small town. I'm in one right now at our family's mountain place. So lovely!

rachaelgking said...

I love living in a big city... but I adore being able to go home to my small town, too. I hear ya. :-)

Ady Grafovna said...

I completely understand this blog. I am from a small town too. When I last visited home, there was a wal-mart and a starbucks. I wanted my town back...

georgia b. said...

i, too came from a small town. i understand this post very much.

i love the photo.

VanessasRunway said...

I moved around to 3 different places as a kid. Until my parents ended up in a small town desert in Southern California just 2 hours from the beach. I use to hate it, but it's nice to go back home. Enjoy how quiet it is and the fact that you have a huge clear sky, you can literally see all the stars. It's perfect in the summer time when there is always a cool breeze in the evenings. :)

Farah said...

I know what you mean, I live in one of those small towns as well. Although I relish in the changes. Its a sign that life is moving on. =)

drollgirl said...

hang in there. i know it is so hard. i wish we could modify realities to suit our needs, but so far that is not working out well for me. :[

noone said...

I _totally_ agree with you, 100%. Small town mentalities and their curtesay is different. It's not only the way they dress, it's also the way they interact with people etc. I lived in a smaller town and I hated it!

Aline said...

so lovely! I've always lived in big towns but my parents own a countryside cottage in Portugal and it's still there after 15 years, no changes whatsoever, just a new road (the previous was son bumpy). There re no shops, no noises, just the sound of the water coming from the river behind our house. I love it there.
xoxo
aline

Slices of Beauty... said...

Lovely pic.

Love retreating to small towns but there is something beautiful about the buzz of busy, big cities.

Uncle Beefy said...

I've had good and bad small town experiences and yet they often are what I seem drawn to. Idealism? Maybe. But the small town where I am now has had its package ripped into a bit, Alissa. So I think I know how you feel.

Nice post. Sweet...and a bit melancholy.

Diane said...

great blog... I will be back... love the little houses.

laura said...

i moved around a lot as a kid, and a couple of the places were small(ish) towns. but i think i understand your feelings. there's something about the place(s) where our "old" selves used to be, a place where our "new" selves can't ever really go back to. i miss my own little packages i've tied up. i was just thinking about them the other day, actually. but i hold them in my heart, so closely. i hope you do, too. it sounds like you do. and that's beautiful.

with love from pittsburgh...

one little simitopian said...

I LOVE that photo!
Hmmm... small towns can be absolutely gorgeous, but I love being anonymous too much to go back to living in one! It is very sad though when you go back to a place full of fond memories, but it seems like it's no longer the same place...it's kind of like those precious memories get torn down a bit along with it.

Courtney said...

While I didn't grow up in a small, rural town, my dad did, and I always loved visiting my grandparents. The sad thing for me has been watching that town slowly die. There is something that seems so idyllic about living in a small town (although I can fully imagine the troubles that can come with it too.) And, as always, I fall in love with your words.

Mrs. N said...

Well put. It does feel like our home keeps getting "altered" a little here and a lot there... I miss the way things were too (that's what used to keep me from getting homesick- the fact that it never changes).

I guess the positive way to look at things is that we will always have the memmory of what was and had the opportunity to experience those things in real time.

Thanks for the post and comparison :)