I don’t usually spend a lot of time missing home.

I come from a small town in Washington State - one that doesn’t really have a lot to offer a metropolitan soul such as myself.   And by small town, I mean small town. Population roughly 3500, doubles during agricultural season.  I live on 10 acres of desert/farmland.  This town raised me, to be sure - but it also broke me in more ways than I can count.  I grew up knowing I needed more, but not knowing what kind of world existed beyond the boundaries of my little rural town.  I suffered.  And I grew.

I think it goes without saying that I can’t imagine myself ever living there again, or ever being a part of that existence.  I’m a city person.  I need the noise.  But…. nostalgia has a way of getting what it wants, no matter how hard you fight.  And there are some things that I truly believe we can only understand if we grow up in a small town.

Liz played a song for me a while ago, and when I heard it I could barely contain myself from weeping, just breaking down.  Here are the lyrics, I’ll share them with you and maybe you can understand how I feel about my home.

T he song is “Scott County” by AJ Roach.  I hadn’t heard of him until Liz introduced me.

Scott County is a habit
some find hard to break
first freeze is in October
lasting out the first of May

it’s beauty is not rivaled
in the western hemisphere
so they say
the hemisphere don’t stretch out
past the state lines anyway

but i have seen stretches of green
that run the length of day

Scott County is a woman
want to treat you like a child
the more you try to hate her
the more she’ll make you smile
and the more you try to stand up straight
the more you’ll lean against
the crooked lines
stone shoulders
the rusted barbed wire fence

Scott County is a hand-out
that some find hard to take
well I left home at 17
not a penny to my name
no sense of where I came from
and a vague of idea of where I meant to go

but, God I miss the dust
that gathers at my gravel road

God I miss the dust
that gathers at my gravel road

It’s too amazing.  I think I’m going to write more on this later.  I’m escaping at a coffee shop right now.  But I needed to fill this space a bit, and I think this song is a good introduction to who I am.