Dear Newnan,

I have lived here for my whole life. I have traveled down every street at least 50 times, walking, driving or otherwise. I have been to every restaurant, watched hundreds of movies in your theaters, and have exhausted every option there is for hanging out on the weekends.

I went to your high school for four years with the same people I have known and gone to school with my entire life (as well as others who came from other middle schools). I have met some awesome teachers who taught me more than just the information they had to. I have had teachers who would rather be anywhere but there as well. I am thankful, however, for all of them.

I am thankful for the lessons I learned growing up here, and the memories I made. I am thankful for the hard times that came with learning to navigate the social climates I was exposed to. I am thankful for the mistakes I made, despite the fact that I wish I could go back and act differently. I am thankful for the mistakes I made, as well as the good things I did with my time for the community, because all of those things taught me lessons I could not have learned any other way.

I am thankful for the journey the Lord led me on through the years and schools and lessons, because He was creating me into an instrument, His instrument which He will use to bless others. I am thankful for the people He used to pour into my life and fill me to the brim with love and hope. He will use the lessons those people taught me to teach others, and I can't wait until heaven one day, when we are all together and I get to give God the glory for His incredible work for all of eternity.

I was never popular and I never had a lot of friends or a lot to do on the weekends, but the Lord was faithful to move in my life and send me to places to do his work.

As I go on into life with the perspective that my experiences in my hometown gave me, I will always be able to look back and see the people and the town that touched my life. I might never come back to live in this town, but believe me, Newnan, you will always live in my heart. I might complain about you a lot, but I am truly grateful for the lessons I learned and the people I met.

No matter how far life takes me away from my hometown, Newnan will always be the town that built me.