Thank God For Hometowns

"Thank God for home towns and the love that makes them go 'round." ~Carrie Underwood, Thank God for Hometowns

**For those of you looking for a Costa Rica update.....oh you're going to love next week!  I'll be kicking off the recap on Monday.  Stay tuned!**

I'm not a huge Carrie fan, but I do love her new song, "Thank God for Hometowns."


If you ask me, small towns make the best home towns. Where the whole town packs the gym for a Saturday night ball game. And a line of cars follows the bus up the Caprock if the game happens to be in the rival town. Where people not only know your name, but your parents' jobs, your grandparents' names, and what kind of car, dog, and horse you have. Where people pull together when times get rough, and celebrate together when things go well. Thank God for hometowns.

Hometown friends at Little Brother's Wedding

Hometowns contain buildings full of memories.  Dancing at prom.  Being crowned homecoming queen (much to my own father's dismay.)  Running suicides at the end of practice or the hill in off season PE.  Being awarded belt buckles at the fairgrounds and my diploma in the gym.  Saying goodbye to people who we lost far too soon.  Thank God for hometowns.

Homecoming 2002

But mostly, hometowns are about the people. 

Neighborhood picnic

People who have known you your entire life. People who remember when I almost cut my finger off with my Dad's pocket knife. Teachers who can tell the topic of my junior thesis and which locker belonged to me my senior year.  Moms (not just my own) who can tell you where the scar on my right knee came from.  People who remember my baggy t-shirt phase, my rap music phase, and all the other phases we don't have to mention on the blog.  The ag teacher who knew I was lying anytime I said I was "fine" and let everyone know it.  The nurse who knows she has to use a butterfly needle to draw my blood.  The feedstore and gas station owners who have pictures of me at every fair for a 10 year span lined up on their wall.  Thank God for hometowns.

My first show lamb - I was 9 years old.

People who have your back and support you no matter what.  Neighbors who bought anything I was selling.  Best friend's moms who forged every permission slip I ever needed signed in high school.  Friends who showed up when Gran died with enchillada casseroles and tears in their eyes.  The superintendent who would pull me out of class for driving too fast on the way to school.  The guy friend's mom who gave him the "You don't treat her like your buddy, you get out of the car and ring the doorbell" speech before he took me to the prom.  The guy who hauled our cows to the sale barn who snuck Gran lemon drops and cigarettes in the assisted living home. Thank God for hometowns.

The whole town at State Basketball

As much as people complain about my hometown--the gossip, the boredom, the fact that things don't change--if you ask me, there is far more good than bad.  That town, those memories, and those people, made me who I am.  Thank God for hometowns.

**Linking up for the first time with Rural Thursdays--so excited!