Just a small town girl living in the big ol' world.

I have lived in various small towns my whole life. I grew up in a small town in northern Alabama. I moved to another small town in central Alabama. And I now go to college in an even smaller town in southwestern Alabama.

Marion, Alabama is the smallest town I have ever lived in and I honestly would not trade it for the world. I feel like Judson is its own personal bubble sometimes. You know all of the professors whether you have had them for a class or not. You know the people helping you out in the dining hall. You even know the visitors that come on campus because Judson has the atmosphere of a small town where everybody is nice and welcoming. I can walk into church and see all of the faces I know. That is a comforting feeling.

Small towns have this atmosphere around them that you can't get in a big city. You can walk in a store and be able to recognize someone or even know someone by their name. Big cities have so many people living there that it becomes difficult to be able to know who you are sitting next to on the subway. I love the feeling of driving down my road and waving to the person driving the opposite way because we know each other. I have come to the realization that I do not like not knowing everyone. I want to be able to walk into a restaurant and stop to talk to some friends.

I want to live in Alabama for the rest of my life, but not only that, I want to live in a small town. I want my kids to be able to have the experiences that I had growing up. I want them to be able to walk down the street to their friend's house. I want them to see their neighbors more like family than just the people living next to them.

Small towns are nothing short of absolutely amazing. When you need help, your neighbors would be there for you in a heartbeat. They are more than the people you live next door to or your friends that you see every day, they are your family. They see you at the worst of times and the best of times. My neighbors are like second parents to me. I help to babysit my neighbor's daughter. When I moved to this almost irrelevant town just a little north of Birmingham, I did not expect to find my best friend living right next door to me, yet I did. to this day, we are still as close as ever. That is what a small town does to you. You expect nothing but you come out with everything.

Sincerely, DeAnn