Back Where I Come From

Before I actually start this blog, I think I should probably start with a little bit about myself and where I come from.  I grew up in Pennsylvania all my life.  I live in a town called Lilly, which is so small I guarantee no one has heard of unless they either lived there or passed through there on accident. So for directional's sake, I live just south of Altoona, between that and Johnstown.  The biggest move I have ever had was from the house in my backyard to my current house, maybe fifty yards away.  So no amazing stories about my travels.  My uncle now lives in that house, my sister lives five houses up the road, my grandparents live two streets over, and sometimes I feel crowded by those facts.

Picture of Lilly from atop a hill by: Jen Foust

According to zip-codes.com, Lilly's current population is 2,602, but that seems like too high of a number to me.  In any event, I grew up with the same people all my life. I can name at least half of all those people, and I guarantee they can all name me.  They may not necessarily know "Tricia,"  but they do know "that Martino girl"  "Chris's daughter"  "Mary and Jim's granddaughter"  "the girl that was in the musical" "the girl in the third pew at 8 oclock mass," etc.  I can't go anywhere without seeing and talking to a ton of people I know.  And the people know everything!  Small town gossip spreads quicker than wildfire.  In high school, one of the girls in my grade got pregnant.  Not two days after she told about it, my grandmother told me she found out from her neighbor that the girl was pregnant, and she asked me what I thought about it.  Anyway, that is the town I grew up in, and my dad grew up in, and my grandparents too.

Like any other 18 year old kid, I wanted to get away once I graduated.  I was super excited when I got accepted into Penn State.  It was sort of close to home, about an hour away.  But it was far enough away that I was on my own.  It is a whole different world here.  I step out of Mifflin and as I walk down Pollock I see double the population of Lilly while on my way to class.  I love it here.  As time has went on though, I have really started to appreciate my roots.  I never realized how much value I put on my small town.  And so, I decided on this blog.  Because I learned a lot from living in a small town.  And I hope you do too.