Getting Back to my Roots

I grew up in a rural area. My friends and I would often joke about there being more cows than people, which became even funnier when we looked it up and realized that there were indeed more cattle on a single farm than there were people in the whole town. It was the classic Small American Town, in which everyone knew everyone and everyone’s worked on a farm at some point in their life.

              Being in such a tight-knit, secluded little town, my perception of the world at large was a bit limited. It was unheard of for me to not know everyone you meet one way or another; my friends and coworkers often remark on how I seem to “know everyone.” In reality it’s just a leftover from living in a small town. I file people away in my head and while I may not remember their names or where I know them, I do remember meeting them and I’m sure to give them a hello and a smile. Kindness and hospitality are priorities, which comes from living in a place where anything you do is going to spread like wildfire. You also have to take care of each other in a small town, where community is everything. So it’s been second nature to me to offer help and get to know people.

              Because of where I live, I also feel very connected to nature. It’s part of me; my family owns a large tract of wilderness that I grew up on, darting through trees and bushes with my cousins like wild things. We would play in the dirt and the puddles, tracking through the dust with wet feet and smearing ourselves with all sorts of filth. During the summer we would spend hours rooting through blackberry bushes and gathering them in great numbers, eating a few here and there and returning most to our parents for the sake of blackberry jam and pie. Growing up in the woods gave me an appreciation for solitude, and I now value introspection and quiet. There’s something about being out in the woods that makes you a part of it, not something separate but something that belongs. It’s a wonderful feeling of belonging, and that sense of being where I was supposed to be helps me to feel at home as long as there’s a tree around.