I've heard all the jokes, like "If you blink when you pass through, you'll miss it." I've even made up a few of my own: "My home town was SO small (All together now... "How small was it?"), the town had only one car that everyone shared." "My home town was SO small (You know the routine... "How small was it?"), everyone was related." Okay, I never claimed to be the reincarnation of Johnny Carson, but you get the picture.
I grew up in Swink, Colorado, which had a population at that time of about 500. I don't think the town has grown much in the nearly 30 years since I left. I attended Swink schools from Kindergarten through my Senior year. My Senior class had the distinction of being the largest graduating class in Swink history - 36 students. The boy-to-girl ratio was quite lop-sided, 12 boys and 24 girls, I believe. Of those 36 students, there were a handful who, like me, had attended Swink schools for the entire 13 years.
The town of Swink had, of course, a Town Hall, which hosted an occasional town meeting and fund-raising spaghetti dinner. In the basement of the Town Hall was the town library, which is where I first discovered The Hardy Boys mysteries. Swink also had one general store, which in my day, was more of a Mom-and-Pop establishment, run by a local family. Today, I think it's been converted into a national convenience store franchise. When I was young, my best friend and I used to walk to the store to buy popsicles or ice cream cones on hot summer afternoons. Across the street was the only town garage. We drove by the garage during our last trip down that way, and I could swear the same rusty old pickup truck was sitting out front, hoisted up on cement blocks, that was there 30 years ago. Swink does have its own post office, one bar situated on the main road through town, a small apartment building or two, and a smattering of churches. I can remember when the very first - and only - family restaurant opened in Swink. It was a steak house that was owned by the parents of one of my classmates. Great food! And, as I recall, the residents of Swink proudly embraced it as their very own, a steady stream of local hungry diners frequenting the small dining room almost every night.
My family and I lived roughly a mile outside of Swink. Back then, few people locked their doors; there was no need to. Everyone knew everyone else - and, yes, a lot of people were related. The community truly cared about each other and looked after each other, and the thought of causing harm to another community member wasn't even a possibility. Some of my fondest memories are when I was probably no more than 7 or 8 years old, a friend and I would throw a blanket over the clothes line in the backyard, constructing our own tent, roll out sleeping bags and go "camping" in our backyard. Another favorite summertime memory was when my older sister and I would cut through the corn field across from our house and walk to Swink to hang out with friends or go to the store. Crime was almost non-existent. In fact, the most eye-popping sensationalistic event I can recall was during my Senior year of high school, when probably 90% of the high school students got up and walked out of school, in protest, when the school board failed to renew a favorite teacher's contract. Swink even made it on the 10:00 news that night! Considering the disgraceful way teachers are treated these days, quite often even risking their own lives to walk into a school room, I am actually quite proud of myself and my fellow schoolmates for standing up in honor of an awesome educator! Oh, we all received punishment in the form of detention for violating school rules, but I've never regretted my stand.
But, like most people who grew up in small towns, I had big dreams, and quickly tired of the ribbing I received for living in such a tiny town. I couldn't wait until I graduated from high school and could move out of Swink once and for all! When I was 18, shortly after I graduated from high school, I packed up all my belongings and moved to a bigger city to attend college. Today, I am 28 years older and worlds wiser, living in one of the largest cities in Colorado. I have two sons of my own; my older son is almost 20 and living on his own, and my younger son is finishing his Sophomore year in high school. Both of my sons attended very large high schools.
And what have I gained through those 28 years of big-city living? A deep admiration and respect for the small-town life I so despised when I was younger. While I appreciate the education my sons have received in the larger schools, one of my greatest regrets is that my sons were not given the same opportunities that I was given: to receive quality education in a smaller school and experience small-town living at its finest. In a smaller school, not only is the teacher-to-student ratio much lower, meaning more individualized attention, but the teachers know their students on a personal level and truly care about their success. My math teacher was my best friend's father, and he would have taken it personally if I didn't do well in his class - and chastised me mercilessly. My son's teachers have such large classes that my son is only a number, a blob taking up space at a desk in his/her room, and the teachers don't even notice when he's absent from class. They have so many children entering and exiting their classroom on a daily basis that they don't have the luxury of caring about the success of any one particular child. My sons will never experience the things I experienced as a child growing up in a small town.
I am not so naive to think that Swink is still that same crime-free, safe environment that seemed to be plucked out of a "Leave It To Beaver" episode. Things change, people change, times change. But I still believe I received the best education possible, from a school that was so small that I received individualized instruction from teachers who knew me personally and cared about me personally, as well as my success in life. I knew all of my classmates personally, and we were all very much like siblings, not just faces in a sea of thousands of other individuals, desperately striving to belong. I grew up in a home, and a community, feeling safe, secure, loved. That is something that is severely lacking the children of today, unfortunately.
Don't blink when you pass through my small home town, or you just may miss a true gem of Americana!