i'm a small-town kinda girl // missing my hometown

     Last weekend I was able to go home to Goldendale for a very quick and spontaneous trip to see my bestie. The weather for my drive was amazing and that made me incredibly happy, because I was able to see The Gorge in it's entirety, and soak in lovely views of my mountain and the river. I had the window down the entire way up the Maryhill Grade, and was thrilled that it was windy! I guess it would seem strange to people who didn't grow up there that I love blustery, hard, strong winds. It's always windy back home and I grew up loving it.

    
      When I finally rolled into town I couldn't keep a silly, huge grin off my face.  It was thrilling and wonderful to drive past all my memories. Places I've visited a million times, to see the truck that's been parked in that same spot for over 5 years, the three blinking-red stop lights in town...  My dad's old store, and the sign that just says, "Hey Blue Eyes, who's your daddy?" The Christian Book store and the tiny grocery store we shopped at all the time. My "favorite" coffee shop that served ah-mazing hot chocolates for only 1.50. Flying past the adorable fabric store on the highway towards Hannah's. 

     I still haven't driven past our farm though. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do that without being absolutely forced.  I miss everything about it, and my horse is buried there...

    I was so happy to be back. It sounds silly, but I really just wanted to drive all over town and soak in just being there. I love the slow, happy pace of the small farming town. The people waving at each other, and no rush and bustle. No traffic, or stoplights. No people honking or flipping you off. 
     Leaving again, after barely 24 hours was oh so hard. I was close to tears, (rare for me!) and about to have an emotional breakdown. I decided to run though the drive-thru to grab something to drink on my way out, and recognized one of my best-friends truck right in front of me. So I texted "I'm currently right behind you!!" and totally surprised my freind. The text I got back read only "WHAT?!?!" :) We parked and visited for awhile, and by the time I left I was feeling much better and cheered up. ;) That is one of my favoritest things about small towns; you run into people you know everywhere. And then I drove home and it was raining...

     Reading through what I wrote above, it kind of sounds like I'm complaining and whining, but I'm not really. It's just that sometimes you don't realize how much it hurts or how much you miss something/someone/somewhere until you see it/them again, and then it washes over you in a moment until you're drowning.

     I know my hometown isn't perfect. I mean, seriously, we had/have druggies everywhere, in fact several times in the last couple years we had a ton of SWAT teams making drug raids up in the hills. There aren't very many jobs, especially for younger people... Shopping is super limited... Gas is always more expensive... you can't hang out anywhere except the grocery store past about 6 o'clock in the evening. (I'm serious. Nothing's open.) Sometimes you got stuck behind a mini cattle herd... But despite all the flaws, I'm a small-town girl who misses her farming community. Even though it hurts like crazy, it's so good to go home once in awhile.