I'm a city girl.
I didn't really know this about myself until we drove into Sherman for the first time last year. As we drove into this small town my heart sank. My whole life I had been dreaming of a college experience where cozy, one of a kind coffee shops, cool restaurants, and intimate music venues abounded. To my deepest disgust Sherman just seemed old and run down. In fact my first reaction to Sherman (and Austin College) was, "I hate this town. I hate this school. I am NEVER coming back here."
My second trip to Sherman wasn't much better. Although I was beginning to love the school the town continued to abhor me. Where were the museums? The concert halls? The coffee shops!? Even after I decided that Austin College was indeed the perfect school for me, I just could not wrap my mind around the fact that I'd be living in Sherman for the next four years. The following two times we came up to visit after I made my decision, I experienced this nauseating sensation of my heart dropping somewhere between my toes.
Today as we drove in, pulled up to the sketchy Super 8 Hotel (the typical classy accommodations Oglesbee's are notorious for), and then set out to find someplace to have dinner, that same gut retching feeling was almost overwhelming. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was actually fighting back tears as I thought, "They're leaving me HERE. No mall. No frozen yogurt. No Clear Lake."
We ended up going to this little restaurant called City Limits. It's actually a pretty cute place. Clearly one of the town's favorite establishments, it was busy and it didn't take us long to discover why. The food was good, burgers and southern fried goodness, and the people were wonderful. There, as I devoured my chkicken fingers and fries, God began to work on my heart.
Our waitress was a sweet, sweet girl was open and friendly and made me feel welcome and at home. Every time she'd come by our table she'd stop and talk to me about what she liked and didn't like about her town. Her words were exactly what I needed to hear and I began to realize that God really did have something important he wanted me to learn the four years I'm here, and I don't think it's something I'll be learning in the classroom.
I know there will be days when I'll miss city life, but I'm actually getting really excited about living in a small town for awhile. And that, is pretty awesome if you ask me.
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