Small Town Girl

     The way I always describe my hometown is this: "It's a small town, with white picket fences, houses that look similar, and nosey neighbors that ensure that everyone knows everyone's business".  My roommate in Spain couldn't believe that we actually have cows... E.B. is known as "semi-rural", meaning we're technically a suburb but we have cows and small farms.  

     It's the type of town that closes after 9 p.m.  It's a town where you can lay in the middle of the street to watch the streetlights change colors and not get run over because there is literally no one on the road, like in The Notebook. 

     We're located halfway between Boston and the Cape, so there's really nothing around unless you're willing to drive or take the train for an hour.  My town isn't even big enough to have its own grocery store.  Yes, it's that small.  My town has a lot of history, being only an hour south of Boston.    

     Until recently, our high school was deemed structurally unfit to house students; I think it was built in 1950's.  The cafeteria flooded during my senior year so we were sloshing through three inches of water every afternoon. The ceiling tiles are yellowed and there's one missing about every ten feet.  They are now in the process of building a new school behind the old one.  The teachers in that school are exceptional; our school system always scores well on state standardized tests.  The building itself was horrible, but the education I received was good and I'm pretty proud of that.

     The sad reality of it all is that no one ever really gets out of town.  It's the type of town that on the surface, you'd want to settle down and raise your kids.  Those kids sometimes go away to college, but they usually move back home to work and they settle down.  Then their kids go through the school system, and the cycle begins again.  There's a state university with a great teaching program one town over and as a result, many live at home and commute there.  We have a lot of "townies" - people whose family has lived here for generations and many of my classmates are related to each other.  Everyone always says, "I can't wait to get out of this town", and while talk is nice, it rarely happens.  This town will eat you alive if you let it.
      Don't get me wrong, I love that so many of my friends are returning home.  Over the past two years, five different friends have returned home and now attend college with me.  Columbus Day weekend means everyone within a few hours traveling distance returns home for family and fall festivities.  There are a few people I am definitely not looking forward to seeing, and then there are a few friends I cannot wait to reunite with.  Everyone eventually moves back home here, some just sooner than others.

   In general, my town isn't bad.  If you like quaint, picturesque and totally boring, then this is the town for you.  I would love to raise my future children in a town like this one day...just maybe not this one.