I grew up in a small town. The kind of town where gossip spreads like wildfire, where the biggest news in town is the local football team's record, and where everyone is dreaming about getting out. I couldn't wait to get out. Couldn't wait to "experience" the world, and life, and all things that happen beyond the dirt roads. Until I was about 10 years old, our "road" was literally a dirt road. The county paved it one day with blacktop, and if you have never driven over fresh blacktop, let's just say don't do it in your classic white Chevy. Not long after graduating high school I moved to a teeny tiny apartment in the "up & coming" part of Houston. 12 years later...it's still "up & coming"...but it was cheap rent. I lived life away from the small town I knew until 2 years ago when my husband accepted a position with New Hope Church. I was excited to come back close to my family, and never realized how much I missed my sleepy hometown. I had been transplanted into an Urban Jungle - a fierce and fast-paced life that will quickly sweep you under. Coming back "home" was a nice piece of solitude and stillness - something that was missing from me.
I don't consider myself a "country girl", and I never have, but there's something about going back down the mile long dead-end road I was raised on that brings out the vibrancy in me. I love the smell of a stale pond mixed with fresh cut pasture grass. I love the way there are no fences, no neighbors within 200 yards, no rules or homeowner regulations...just freedom. My tiny county road was made up of mostly my family - my grandparents next door, my great aunt on the other side, and two houses down my great-grandparents. Luckily my dad and step-mom very close as well. I am so very grateful to have all of them in my life, and to have grown up being schooled by a generation shaped by the working hands of yesteryear. We didn't watch a lot of TV, we never even had cable because we were in such a rural area. We played croquet in the yard, baseball with my Mema, would swim for hours on end, rolled around in the dirt with our dog - we lived outside and loved it. My great-grandmothers yard is filled with pecan trees and she would stretch a hammock out between them for us - that was Heaven.
The town still doesn't have much, Joe's BBQ is probably the most happening place in town, but every time I go to visit it feels so right. I hope and pray to give a piece of that peace to my children. Living rurally doesn't mean you aren't cultured or intelligent. It doesn't mean you don't know the difference between Paris, Texas and Paris, France. For me it means that you are a little more grounded; it means you know how to shoot water moccasins in your pond from your 2nd floor guest room window while wearing a killer pair of heels :)
I am so thankful for all of the people and places in my life that have shaped me into who I am, and I can't wait for the next time I get to experience the laid-back life in the country.
