New Milford is a town in southern Connecticut, large land-wise but small population-wise. We rarely appreciate our hometown when we are younger, but then we grow up and realize how difficult it is not to love and miss all that our town has to offer.

Here are 11 things that people who grew up in New Milford know too well:

1. Master Recorder Player

We all became professional recorder players by the end of the sixth grade. After playing the plastic instrument for what seemed like our whole lives, it was quite the accomplishment before setting off for Middle School, especially if you had received the black belt

2. Mother Earth in Brookfield

We attended so many birthday parties here that we had a whole rock collection, most likely made up of every single rock that we could possibly dig up. There was something about digging around in sand in a dark room that kept us going back for more. Why did that stop being a thing anyway?

3. School Lunches

We signed petitions all throughout middle school to get rid of some item on the school lunch menu. The all-time favorite was the apparent bouncy hot dogs, which makes sense now because they were boiled not grilled but that's besides the point. We enjoyed exercising our rights of freedom of speech, press, and to form peaceful petition and protest

4. We live next to what? Where is Sherman?

We knew of our larger town neighbors, but had little idea of the existence of our smaller neighbor, Sherman. Freshman year a huge group of people joined our class and soon became some of our closest friends, though the interesting stories and line "oh, they're from Sherman" never seemed to fade away

5. What's a Greenwave?

New Milford is known for it's beautiful rolling green hills and mountains, so much that the mascot for our school was chosen to be the Greenwave. Yes our mascot looks like a piece of asparagus or broccoli, but he is the face of New Milford High School and we love that green man with all our hearts

6. McDonald's cravings at 10 p.m.

One of the greatest traditions of High School was going to a football or basketball game on weekday nights. Win or lose, we would all go to McDonald's after the game to binge on late night fries and shakes

7. Using the Village Fair Days to be a kid again

It is always a good time when we get to spend a sunny day on our Village Green. Vendors line the strip with face paint stands, dream catchers, jewelry, and clothes and we can never seem to resist the pulled pork sandwiches, fried dough, and the ice cream truck too

8. Glow Bowl vs Glow Skate

Living in a small town, we did not have many options on how to spend our Friday nights. The weekly decision of whether to stay in town and glow bowl or drive the extra miles to glow skate was so real, as was gathering the cash to do it each week

9. Farm land, everywhere

We have all been in some sort of rush at some point and right on que, a tractor turns right in front of us, driving 15 miles an hour. There is farm land all over our small town so no matter where we go, there will always be a chance of getting stuck behind at least one tractor. We have gained more patience though, so that's a plus

10. The trails

We all have those memories of climbing up the steep hill, lugging our heavy backpacks and over-sized tents. It was comforting to be surrounded by so many friends; it was what kept us sane and gave us something to look forward to. The bonfires kept us warm as we sat around blasting our songs and playing our games, forgetting all of our worries and anything else always on our minds

11. New Milford pride

No matter how much we have always wanted to leave our small town, move far away, and never look back, we cannot seem to let it go. We love our rolling green hills, our Dunkin Donuts on every corner, each and every antique and consignment store, our small family-owned favorite restaurants, and all the events that happen on our beautiful Town Green. New Milford changes every day, and will continue to as the years go by, yet our love for our small town only grows. New Milford has shaped us into the individuals we are today, allowing us to embody all of the characteristics that make our town so great.

We will always remember our roots and keep New Milford in our hearts.