Dear small town,

You have taught me a lot of things growing up, from all the late night drives and sitting around in parking lots for hours. You start to look at things a certain way when you grow up knowing the same people from kindergarten to the time I walked across the stage for graduation. I realized at a young age just how small you were. I watched all of the people I thought would be my best friends forever in middle school turn into people I didn’t even say a word to by my freshman year of high school. I learned that friends come and go, but you find out who your real friends are as soon as you leave. I saw what you could do to people. I saw all of the gossip and rumors spread. Everyone knows everyone’s business when you go to a high school with 500 people. When I left you, I realized how close minded I had been to the world around me. I had a lot to learn when I went to college.

Going to college was scary. I did not think that I was ready. I had grown up in your bubble with all of the same people my whole life, how was I supposed to move on and find something new? I’m glad I did. I was scared to leave you behind along with everything I had ever known, but leaving was when I really found myself. When you come from a place where everyone is basically the same, there isn’t much room to be different. As scared as I was to go to college, it was the best thing for me. I wasn’t trapped by rumors and the ideas that people had grown up thinking about me. I was no one at this school. I could be whoever I wanted when I started this new part of my life.

I didn’t know the impact college would have on me in such a short period of time. I became the person I should have been all along. I’m not afraid to step out of my comfort zone, or speak up when needed. I found real people that wouldn’t turn on me the second something went wrong. I had to change the way I thought and how I looked at everything. I view people much differently than I ever did before. I see things more clearly and I’m open to new ideas and perspectives. I’m not afraid of the way that people see me anymore. I have found the person that I needed to be.

I will always love the place that I come from. It will always be my home. I’m thankful for the memories we’ve shared and everything I’ve had to experience. It has helped shape me into the person I am today.

You will always hold a special place in my heart, but I had to get out before I was stuck forever.

Love,

The girl who had to leave you behind