Lafayette is the definition of a small town. There is one intersection in Lafayette, and I knew every person in my graduating class of 56 people. Up until a year ago we had a Dollar General, Nice N’ Easy, McDonald's, a couple churches, two small bars, one pizza place and one little diner, so you can imagine the excitement of our new Byrne Dairy opening. Now we have one more place to eat and the gas stations have one more to compete with. This probably doesn’t seem great to anyone who isn’t from Lafayette, but if you are you know how much you love the new “Beer Cave”. Lafayette isn’t big or fancy, but it’s the place I call home. Lafayette is the type of place you can’t wait to leave in high school, but after you leave you realize what an amazing place it actually is.

In high school everyone knew everything about everyone, so our small team seemed to be nothing but a hassle. Now I can appreciate how much I love Lafayette and the people in it. It’s funny how we can’t wait to leave Lafayette, but so many of us can’t wait to come back. Growing up in Lafayette means that you will have a community of people that are there to support you. In high school it may seem like the world is out to get you, but after leaving you understand all the support you really have. Growing up in Lafayette means that everyone in the town will be at your high school concerts, sporting events and fundraisers. Not only is everyone in Lafayette probably related in some way to someone on your team or in your band, but also there isn’t really anything better to do, so even if you aren’t obligated, you still go. Growing up in Lafayette means that on the weekends you and your friends will either be going to someone’s house and watching a movie in their basement or in a field somewhere having a party. Growing up in Lafayette means having a group of friends that you will never grow apart from, no matter how far apart you may be. This year some friends and I went all the way to Kentucky to visit our friend. Growing up in Lafayette means a town full of people that will always be there to support each other when they are in need.

I admit that when I lived in Lafayette I thought it was the worst place in the world and I couldn’t wait to leave, but now I realize how blessed I am to be from our small town. It’s the simple things that you miss when you leave. Things like seeing all your friends at church on Sunday morning or knowing Saturday night that your friends are going to have to wake up just as early as you are to get their butts to Sunday School. I love the support the athletes in Lafayette have for each other. If my team didn’t have a game, we would carpool to watch the boys and they did the same for us. I love the culture we have in Lafayette that is often taken for granted. I love that after all of our games and concerts, we are able to all squeeze into Sweeties for ice cream or meet at Tully's for chicken tenders. I love that all my friends' families feel like my families. I love that I can walk in any of my friends' doors at anytime and none of them will ask why I am there or what I am doing. I love that I am friends with my teachers, coaches and my athletic director on Facebook, and that even though I am four hours away they still support me and check in on how I am doing. I love that in high school my teachers knew my name and truly cared about me. So many of my friends from college don't know their teachers and don't stay in touch with their coaches. It took me a while to understand that not all towns are as close as Lafayette is.

We may be a small town, but trust me, we have our own fun! I love the APPLE FEST! If you don’t spend Columbus Day volunteering and eating until you’re sick, are you really from Lafayette? I love apple picking. Lafayette is famous for their apples and when I'm not home in the fall my family still finds a way to deliver a bushel to me. I eat them until I get sick, and that holds me over until the next year. I love hiking to “The View” at Adams Eden with all my friends and risking a broken ankle to take the course to the waterfall. I love skiing on Fridays, unless there is a basketball game. I love finding new places to hike and swim with my friends. I love cliff jumping, even if it takes me twenty minutes to jump off every time. I love that we are able to make our own fun in our small town.

The feeling you get when you come home for the first time in a while is truly indescribable. I love walking into the Nice N’ Easy and knowing everyone. I love walking into my high school gymnasium and being reunited with the people I love. I love that when people find out I am home, they call and come visit. I love seeing my friends in church on Sunday. I love that catching up with my friends and family after church takes just as long as mass sometimes. I miss the way people in Lafayette care about each other. The family feeling of Lafayette is something that I have missed in my time at college. I know my friends miss it too because it is all we talk about whenever our group message blows up again.

The Lafayette community never fails to amaze me with their support of each other. God knows we have had our full share of heart break in the community, but time after time we come together to help the ones we love feel a little bit better. I have been to so many benefits to help raise money for those in need, but I always took for granted the amount of money and support we were able to give them, until I moved away. People in Lafayette might not realize it, but other communities aren’t so supportive of each other. We might be small, but we all know and care for one another which is something other communities don’t have. This year a member of my friend’s family passed away and I was stunned at the amount of money our community could raise for the family in just a few short days. I thought this was truly amazing for our community, but then I remembered all the times we got together before that and how much money we must have raised then. I think we all take the love and support for granted, but I promise this kind of love and closeness isn’t found in many other places.

I always hear people talking about how unhappy they are in Lafayette. I hear my sister's friends say they can’t wait to leave and never come back. I know that I was the same way before I left home, but now I realize that Lafayette is an amazing place and I wouldn’t want to call anywhere else my hometown. Not too many of my friends from college miss home, but I know that so many of my friends from high school do. Maybe it is because of all these little things that we took for granted about our little town. Or maybe it is because when you're from a small town you fall in love with everything in it, even if it takes moving away to realize your love.

There are only two weeks before I can return home and I cannot describe how excited I am to be reunited with my Lafayette family.