Welcome Home!
Fall break presented me with a great opportunity to wander around my hometown a bit. My first full day back, I had coffee with an old teacher and now friend. Instead of staying inside, we decided to take our coffee to go. As we walked around downtown, talking about everything we had been up to, I saw my home with new eyes.Monett was not a bad place to grow up; I don't dislike it, for all its small town, often narrow-minded ways. It has a certain rustic appeal to it. Something about the flea market next to the gun and knife store I suppose. My small south-west Missouri town taught me many lessons, some of which I decided to share.
1.) We all gossip.
I feel like this one is rather self-explanatory. We all gossip, especially in our small-town settings. Even my dad is able to tell me who is seeing who in the high school, courtesy of information from my fourteen year old sister.
2.) Never, ever, under any circumstances, agree to take on the PSR class that scared away the nun.
There was a reason the nun decided she "didn't have time" to teach them anymore. It's because they had no desire to be there. We all became very good at Bible Pictionary and Bible Jeopardy, because that was the only thing that seemed to hold their attention. But on that same note, I learned a lot about working with preteens that year; including that I didn't want to work with them for a career.
3.) Lots of things change; but for as many change, just as many stay the same.
Walking up and down the streets of Broadway, there are several new shops. But there are more old than there are new. Things are going to change, even here, in my hometown where things seem to move so slowly. I only recognize a third of the names on the football team, there are new lights for the field, and the band has a new director. But the same fans are still yelling the same obscenities at the refs, the field is still as torn up as ever, and the band is still a high school marching band, making the spiral after every show.On days like today, when I have time to stop and reflect on how different everything is, I find a little overwhelming. But on the other side of that coin, I love seeing how far I've come, and how much further I will go.
And yet, there is that comfort of knowing, if I came home, it would still be there. As small-town, slightly red necked, extremely comfortable, as ever.
Totus tuus,
LeAnn
