Born and Raised in a Small Town

While driving down U.S. Route 119 in your car, the windows are rolled down, and you are messing the radio dial, you come to a red light and stop and glance around at your surroundings. To your left there is an Italian deli and a flower shop and to your right a row of small houses. The light turns green and you continue on your way, in a matter of three minutes you are traveling through a second red light, and completely unaware that you just traveled through my hometown of Homer City.

Homer City is a typical small town located in Western Pennsylvania; the town consists of a total of three stoplights and is divided in half by Highway 119. There are more bars, churches, and car washes in my town than anything else. We are mostly known for a brand-new Sheetz Gas Station that was built in town not too long ago, and the big power plant in town. Despite the lack of interest one may see in my town, it is the place I have called home for the past eighteen years of my life. It has seen me through the best and worst moments I will ever face, and it will always be waiting for me to return whenever I need the comfort of a familiar face. No matter anyone’s feelings towards this place I call home, it has kept me grounded, taught me so many valuable lessons, and for that reason will always have a dear place in my heart.

One of the major values that my town embodies is comfort. In a census taking in 2000, the population of Homer City totaled 1,844 residents and 805 households. I find much comfort in being able to go across the street for a pizza and spend the day talking to the owner about how school is going, or walk to a friend’s house and be able to smile and converse with everyone I pass. It is a very safe and comforting feeling to surround yourself with those who know you and your reputation, especially when it is one that has taken you so long to build. In Homer City everyone truly does know everyone, and I am free to be myself and not worrying about who is judging me.

A second major quality that I value about my town is its safety. This is the sort of neighborhood where you do not have to worry about locking your doors at night or worry whether your children will be safe on their bike ride. Everyone has a mutual respect for others and their belongings. As a child I was never afraid of walking to the store by myself, because if anything ever were to happen I was surrounded my individuals who would go above and beyond to help and protect me.

Not only is my town comforting and safe, but it is also very convenient. While growing up I always had my friends within walking distance of my home, along with anything else I could possibly need. Not having a car was never a big concern of mine growing up, because at the time everything I could ever need was right in town. Although very small my town contains, two small grocery stores, three gas stations, a hair salon, four churches, three pizza parlors, an ice cream shop, a pool, and of course my high school right in the middle of it all. There were no limitations to what I could do growing up, and the convenience of my town is still something I value to this day.

I believe one of the best qualities of my town is the intimacy and close-knit quality that is possesses. The word-travels-fast quality of my town is not always something to fear. When a member of our community is struggling or going through a rough time, everyone rallies to help them. I have partaken in numerous benefits and spaghetti dinners to raise money to help out people of our community, and witnessed these remarkable acts of kindness. For instance, after the death of a family member, the next day half the town will be on your doorstep with food and comfort. There is such a good feeling that you get when you’re on a bus pulling out of your high school on your way to a state volleyball tournament, and the entire way out of town there are people standing on the sidewalks with signs cheering and showing their support for you, wishing you to succeed. I understand the feeling of not be treated as a number or any passerby to someone, but as an individual, and to be cared for and respected. Just knowing that there are is always someone there to lean on, and someone to trust is the most comforting feeling, and oftentimes what I love and miss most about my town.

Another thing to value about living in a small town is its simplicity. It isn’t everywhere that you can become a hero and grace the front page of the gazette because you scored the game winning basket at last night’s regular season, Single A, basketball game, a game of course where the bleachers were filled with supporters from town. There have been many occasions where my picture has made the front page of the town newspaper for academics, high school sports, and being the homecoming queen of a school graduating only eighty-five students. These are the sorts of headlines that fill our newspapers, not the murders, robberies, or drug arrests that are so common everywhere else in today’s society. It is wonderful to have the simple things in life acknowledged and valued in the community.

One of the final values that I admire about Homer City is the fact that is it so family oriented. I hope to one day raise a family in a town similar to Homer City because I believe being able to grow up in such a family oriented environment was extremely beneficial to me. This is a place where family dinners are a must, and parents would not miss their children’s sporting events for anything. Family is a major priority in town, and most of the residents are families, who come here for the quality education and safe living environment for their children. Family is one of the main values in my life, and living in an area that promotes that ideal is essential.

Although I have always enjoyed living in my town, the fact that I could go away to college and leave everything behind me was an idea that always fascinated me. I swore from a very early age that distance would not be a factor in my college selection, and I would go as far away from this little town as I could and become whoever I wanted to be. Yet here I am, one hour and forty-one minutes away from Homer City and in a town and school that is not much bigger than the one I just left. It turns out after all, that I could not picture myself anywhere else then where I am now. I was raised in one of the smallest towns I know, and despite as much as I try to distance myself from it, I find myself most comfortable in places that remind me of it. After I graduate from college and move on with my life, in hopes of establishing a career, my chances of living in Homer City again are slim to none. However, no matter how far away my adventures may take me, that is where I will always call home, the residents will always be a part of my family and in my life forever. I dread the day when I return for a visit and nothing is the same, the day when maybe they start to modernize Homer City and add a few more shops and stop lights. That small town is what I know, as dull and boring as it may seem to any other passerby it holds some of my most precious moments, and I hope it never changes, because in my eyes it will always be home.