Oh, good ole Mountain Brook. Some hate us, some love us, but regardless of those judging us we do love where we grew up and wouldn't change it for the world. We received a great education, and befriended some great kids, and for that we will always be thankful. Here are some relatable words describing your experience growing up in the great town of Mountain Brook, Alabama.
You’ve been called a Brookie by every single person you've met who isn't from Mountain Brook.
It's a pretty derogatory name, but most people mean it jokingly (hopefully). "Gotta love those Brookies" is a phrase I've heard more times than I can count.
Because of that fact, when you introduce yourself, you say you’re from Birmingham to avoid all possible discriminatory comments.
Because when you say you're from Mountain Brook, they immediately say "Ohhhh so you're a Brookie," and here we are back to square one.
You have been to the basketball playoffs/state championship … multiple times.
Mountain Brook is pretty darn good at basketball. People love to doubt us and hate on us, but the past few years our basketball team has made it all the way. All thanks to you, Bucky.
You live off of the knowledge that "We Beat Hoover."
Mountain Brook may not have always been the very best at football, but we all remember that incredible Friday night at home when the Spartans took home the W against the Bucs. Some of us still have the "We Beat Hoover" stickers on our cars, just because that was a game and a feat we will never forget.
You love to throw the #GSG.
Go Spartans Go, man. It's the "roll tide" of Mountain Brook, the simple hashtag you throw on the end of your Instagram captions, and the simple greeting of rivalry when you meet someone from another Birmingham school.
The drives to school weren't that bad because the houses in Mountain Brook are beautiful.
The Brook is home to neighborhoods of classic, southern-style houses fit for Southern Living magazines. (This is my personal favorite.)
You spent your childhood days walking to the village with your pals.
And it's absolutely hilarious driving by now and seeing the kids on bikes (or hoverboards?), the heavy traffic through Sugar, and all of the elementary school drama constantly happening.
You know that the Christmas lights around town are THE best out there.
There's nothing like driving around Mountain Brook during the Christmas season. Some people go all out in their yards, and Mountain Brook Village is absolutely beautiful.
You participated in the elementary school rivalry.
Mountain Brook Elementary? Crestline? Cherokee Bend? Brookwood Forest? Whichever one you come from seems to say a lot about you. You will always be proud of whichever one you graduated from in sixth grade. MBE was the best, though. I'm not biased at all!
It feels like your entire high school comes with you to college (if you go in-state, at least).
They call Alabama "the 13th grade" for all us Mountain Brook kids, and I'm sure they could say the same about Auburn. Wherever you go to college, there will be someone you know from high school. It's kind of comforting though; you all have that special bond and you all look out for each other.
You’ve looked forward to Wednesday lunches ever since you can remember.
Oh, how I loved Wednesdays. Chicken Day! The farther along you got in school, the better the chicken got, it seemed. One of the most looked forward to parts of high school was chicken day, and one of the saddest days of senior year was the last Wednesday of the year, because that meant no more chicken days. And if you're anything like my friends and I, you took embarrassing selfies with your chicken (don't judge).
People can't fathom the idea that during free period you could go wherever/do whatever you wanted.
For some reason, at Mountain Brook they trusted us during 50 minutes of our day to do whatever our hearts desired. Hang out in the mall, go to the lunchroom, wander the halls, run around on the field ... you name it, it was legal. No one was trapped anywhere; it was basically a free for all.
You probably made good grades in school.
Mountain Brook is all about the academics; the teachers strive to teach their students to do their absolute best in a challenging environment so kids can better themselves for the future. That's why people come from all over the place to send their kids to the Brook — being so academically driven is something our city should be very proud of!
When you hear “the mall” you don't think about shopping.
Yes, the mall was the central location in the inside of Mountain Brook High School connecting all of the halls; it's where we all hung out before and after school, during free periods and when we just wanted to leave our classrooms.
Of course, you tripped on the mall bricks too at some point in your high school career.
That should just be a rite of passage. You have to look down when you walk to make sure you're not about to bust it in front of the whole school. It's happened to all of us, don't worry!
All of your parents went to high school together too.
For some reason, it seems like everyone who grew up in Mountain Brook has been there for generations. From my experience, we can't go anywhere without my dad knowing someone he went to high school with back in the day.
You never learned the words to the Alma Mater but you sang it anyway.
After every pep rally and assembly, you would get up and put your arms around each other and sway to the beat of the Alma Mater, but what the heck were the actual words?! The only part we could do was the "Here's to you oh Mountain Brook" fist pump. Yet we still cried the last time we sang it at graduation.
You know you have been a part of an incredibly close, supportive community.
Mountain Brook is great for a lot of reasons, but my favorite part about my town is how everyone comes together in times of need, sadness, joy and celebration. No matter what is going on in our friends' and neighbors' lives, we are all always here for each other. When a neighbor's house burns down, we take in that family and give them everything they need in their time of crisis. When our friend and classmate develops cancer, we hang purple and gold ribbons from our mailboxes to support him in his battle, regardless of the fact that we're a pretty anti-LSU town. When a friend beats cancer, we have a parade in her honor taking her all through the village, as she makes her way home from being treated for the last time. Anytime we can help each other out, we do. Anytime we can celebrate each other, we do. That is what has made Mountain Brook such a great place to grow up; regardless of where we go from here, we will always hold the values we learned at home in our hearts.
