Logan New Mexico: Back Where I Come From

"Well in the town where I was raised, the clock ticked and the cattle grazed, time passed with amazing grace....I'm proud as anyone, that's where I come from" ~Kenny Chesney

Today I am linking up with A Little Bit of This & That to tell you where I'm from! Such a great idea for blogs....be sure to go over and check out where all of the other bloggers are from!

I know a lot of the bloggers participating in this little game talk about their cities, and all the fun things there are to do. Well.....I can't really do that because I'm not from a city with lots to do! Instead, you're going to get an earful about growing up on a farm and in a small town! Because I have blogged about several of these topics before, I am doing my best to put links to prior blogs in case you want to red more in detail!

I grew up on a farm and ranch near the village (yes, it's really called a village) of Logan, New Mexico.

We raise cattle and sheep, but also have horses and used to have pigs. We grow wheat, barley, milo and alfalfa. (You read all about the farm on Family Farm Fridays!) I'd say my childhood was pretty much ideal, the kind of thing that you would have seen on the Andy Griffiths Show had Mayberry been a farm instead of a town. (Hear all about it in my very first 4-H speech!)

Growing up we had awesome parents who have been married for over 30 years now (you previously met my Mom on the blog and my dad will be coming soon), wide open spaces, lots of animals, great neighbors, and my Gran lived next door. Little Brother and I spent lots of time outside running around, helping with the animals, riding horses, driving trucks and tractors, irrigating....you name it, we did it! Gran was always our partner in crime. She lived right next door and was seriously the most fun lady in the world! She was the kind of grandma who would bake cookies for a tea party one day, go on a cruise for vacation the next, and be out herding sheep the next.

Our neighbors were a big part of our life growing up. There were about 5 or 6 families living down "our road" that were like extra sets of grandparents or aunts and uncles. They always had food for us when we came over, helped us with our homework, and bought ANYTHING that was drug up to their door for sale! We would either ride our horses to their house, drive Gran over for a visit in her little pick up, or walk if it was a closer neighbor (including Mr. Maes whose wife made homeade tortillas every afternoon at 3:00 and you would see two blonde headed kids headed down the road!)

I went to elementary school and junior high in a nearby small town called San Jon. My mom was a teacher there and I still have lots of friends from that time in my life, including Teacher Friend, The Cheerleader and First Valentine, who you have read about several times before.

In elementary school I played "bitty ball" (which is our version of little kid basketball), showed lambs, participated in spelling bees and that sort of thing, and used to frequent the principal's office for my recess antics. My friend The Cheerleader and I were about the biggest tomboys that you have ever met and I swear to you once we were playing football with the boys and Teacher Friend's brother got a bloody nose from someone tackling him. They sent all the boys, Teacher Friend and me into the principal, who seemed very confused as to why the two girls were in his office....

When high school rolled around my mom retired (the first of like 5 times) and Little Brother and I started going to school at Logan. Logan was closer to home, but the big reason for that move was that we were following Mr. Franklin who had also left San Jon for Logan (You have also read about several times......I am not quite sure what he would think about being one of the leading characters on a blog!) That move ended up being pretty smart.....we both ended up winning multiple state FFA championships and getting judging scholarships to college. In addition to being active in FFA, I also played volleyball and basketball, and was involved in several other school activities (realize that with like 75 kids in the high school, we all did everything!)

High school in Logan was probably completely different than high school for most people. (You've read about that before!) Our whole school (I'm talking K-12 grade here people) was in one building. And there were about 210 kids total. My graduating class had 20 people in it. Here we are: To say that everyone knew everyone is an understatement. Everyone not only knew everyone, we knew everyone's business, their families, what they liked, who they were dating, what their dogs names were and where they were on Friday night! There were times I swear that teachers would be calling our parents to tell on us before we had even done the wrong thing that was coming!

The other thing that I've realized was different about small town high school is that we were all really good friends with the other small town kids around the state. This happened mostly through 4-H and FFA, but some too through playing sports against each other. For me, this included BFF and one of the famous Animal House Boys from college.

A lot of people don't get the chance to even meet everyone in their own school, much less to have friends from all over the state, so we were lucky like that! (I've written about this before as well!)

Anyway, hopefully this gives you a small, quick look into where I'm from. I think that growing up where I did, how I did is a huge part of who I am. As I wrote this blog, I realized that when you grow up in a small town and look back on that, it's not about buildings or places or events. Instead, it's about the people. And maybe that is the biggest gift a small town can give you!