by Katie Lane

Created on: October 04, 2008

Most of my life was dotted with lightning bugs and the smell of peach cobbler. I was considered a 'city girl' from day one- I never learned how to climb trees and crawfish scarred the ever living heck out of me. But I remember walking barefoot across many stretches of pavement and catching many stray kittens and puppies and bringing them home.

My entire family lives on my street, with my great-grandparents nearly five seconds away and my grandparents across the street and all of my aunts and uncles and great aunts and great great aunts, too. The family church is just down the street, and behind it runs the creek.

The creek is a massive creature. I know exactly where all the slippery spots are, where all the good rocks are, where it gets deep and where to look out for snakes. I used to breathe creek water and exhale summers of butterfly nets and overalls.

But I've grown out of it. I've grown to resent the Bible belt, the choking nature of this entire place. For a while I even hated it. I despised the country, wanting to leave as fast as possible. I wanted to be the city girl my Papa always told me that I was. I didn't want people laughing, asking if I knew Hannah Montana or not.

I've never had an accent and no, I don't hunt. But I like to fish, and I still like to wade in that creek. Trees are still not my thing, but kittens and puppies I can do. I make a mean peach cobbler, and the smell of my grandmother's cooking still brings me home.

So the country and I have a love-hate relationship. Despite the fact that, every day when I go to school, I go into the downtown, city scene, meeting up with people that are wearing things that designers make and that people from the city wear, I always go back to the country. And despite the fact that I want to break away, this will always be my hometown.

Growing up here has taught me a lot of things. It's taught me how to love and how to hate. It taught me how to appreciate nature and the stars- the one thing that bothers me the most about city is the light pollution. I love the sounds that the country produces that you can't find anywhere else.

I learned about family and true friendship, and how to survive on your own. I learned how to take care of animals, take care of a garden or a farm. I've learned a lot. And some people call my family uneducated, sure, but you try making a fire during an ice storm in a cold, dark basement with two sticks and no matches just so your entire family can eat hot dogs.

And I still resent the country, just a little bit. I'll probably come back to some form of it, some day. But for right now, I live in it, and I'm growing up in it. The nature is beautiful, the lessons are great. I'm going to take them with me for the rest of my life.

So call me a bumpkin, call me a hick. I'll call you a yank and we'll get on with the rest of our lives. This is too short of a time to judge people on where they come from, and, in some part of my heart, I'm proud of my roots, even though I'm a true city girl.

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