I live in the same town I grew up in. Little town along the Ohio River. I live about three blocks away from the house I grew up in.  We have a few Police Officers. I grew up with the Mayor. Had a crush all through my tween years on the now, Chief of Police. My kids go to the same school that I graduated from. On any given Fall Friday, I can see a lot of the people I grew up with , gather for the football games. When I go to the local store, there are so many folks to stop and chat with, sometimes I forget what I came there for.  The local beauty shops are the news centers for all things.  CNN has nothing on the people at our pharmacy. On all Patriotic holidays, the American Flag flies from one end of town to the other. On Football Fridays, the Team Flag flies from one end of town to the other. Every time I hear the Fight song/Alma mater, Itear up. I basically have the exact same friends I had when I was young. “Lifer’s” I call them. Of course, I have been blessed to add some real, cherished people through out   my life thus far.  But those people, that hail from here, well..there is nothing like them. We gather at the same churches Sunday to Sunday. Weddings, baptisms, Funerals. Speaking of being News Central, ask a Church Lady. She’s a Journalist. No Doubt.  The people that I grew up around, that have left, when they return for a event, game, or reunion..it’s like they never left anyway. We can pick up like we just had coffee the day before. It’s what is inside a person. A shared bond, that is hard to explain, it’s a small town kinda thing I suppose.

We have issues here. Scandals, fights, grass in yards to tall, litter at the Basketball Courts, dogs barking, music too loud, local bars have “good stories” after midnight, Stop sign running, people going 35 in a 25, ya know, big time crime. I’ve been mad at a teacher or two, maybe three.

I had big plans to leave this one horse town when I was a teenager. I was gonna be somebody!  I hear a lot of kids say this. I smile. I never left. But the funny thing, it only took 20+ years to  understand, I am somebody. I am, well..me. The same sidewalks I ran on when I was in Grade school, I walk on as an adult, a beaten path. When the winds of change blow all around me, I walk on those same sidewalks, and know that as much as things change, is as much as they stay exactly the same.

I live in a small Ohio River Town. I am going to go pick up some stuff at  the store. I know I will run into my 11^th grade History Teacher along the way..on the same sidewalk…on the same beaten path of this life.

Peace!!