Oh, to be young and carefree. Tonight, as I pumped gas, I watched four male teens horseplay in the parking lot. A few moments later an SUV filled with teenage girls pulled up. Based on the sheer amount of noise I figured they’re all good friends. This scene instantly snapped me back to my hometown. I thought about the things that “stressed” me out during those tender years. If you know me then you know most of that anxiety came from wanting to be successful academically. Ironically enough I was voted most likely to succeed. Now I had some other worries but I won’t jump into those at the moment.

 It’s been 17 years since I was a teen like them. I have fond memories of Friday nights in a small town. 

When I tell people where I’m from they often ask how many traffic lights do we have. I proudly tell people that we have several and we even have a Walmart Super-center .

These days I can easily pinpoint the last time I’ve been to Eufaula. It is very rare that I’m in Eufaula more than a few hours at most. As I drive around memories flood my mind. When I pull into my grandmother’s yard part of me still expects her to be standing at the back door saying “Hey baby”. I think about family friends who would stop by during my younger years. Depending on who it was, my grandmother would entertain them in the living room.

 I can remember sitting on the front porch and people honking their horns and yelling a quick greeting. There were some weekends you didn’t know who might pass by on the “Bluff”. This was long before we had the ability to send a quick text to see if anyone was at home.

 I can also recall sitting on the front porch shelling peas. One particular night we stayed a bit longer than usual to help my grandmother shell peas. When we arrived home, we found someone had broken into our house. 

One thing about a small town, everyone knows everyone. People didn’t mind running through your family tree in the middle of the local Piggly Wiggly. At some point you hear “yeah I know your xyz”. A bonus would be if they explained how they know your relative or a nice embarrassing story from your childhood. I will never forget being in Walmart and bumping into a family friend. He told the friend that was with me that I would always be talking to myself when he came to visit. So much so that he often asked my mom if I had company. Pause. Before you try to come for me, I was an only child. In actuality I was refining my teaching skills at a young age! LOL

I can also recall being so ready to escape the small-town life. I wanted to go away and reinvent myself. Sorry, there’s no story about how I made a 180 from classified as the “smart girl”. Now I’m classified as the “Sunday school teacher”. To this day people bring up how on Senior Day at school my name was continuously called for scholarships. People joked I never sat down during the ceremony.

I applied for schools all across the Southeast in hopes of creating this amazing new life. The one school I wanted to attend the most took their sweet time mailing my acceptance letter. I was first introduced to UT (University of Tennessee) through a math and science program. Funny enough these were my two worse subjects. I’m sure someone will read this and say “you didn’t have a bad subject”…. I wish that was the case. I spent two summers on the campus of UT Knoxville trying to enhance my math and science skills. I had no doubt where I wanted to attend college.

Well, I only spent a semester at UT. Most people don’t even remember that part of my story. Do you remember when I said I spent part of the summer in Knoxville? It’s important to note I had not experienced winter in Knoxville. When the little white stuff fell from the sky there was no magic email that class was cancelled. In the Deep South everything shuts down for a snow flake.

Literally as I packed up all my stuff a few days before leaving for school I thought about a winter coat momentarily. I continued to pack. Although I was only there for a semester I met some amazing people and still keep in touch with one of my dear friends I met during orientation. The fall semester I spent at UT was basically a “free” semester. Okay, okay….free is far from reality. In reality I could not afford to remain at UT. Despite having numerous scholarships out of state tuition was no joke. I am a first generation college student so there were no talks about out of state tuition. At the end of the semester I looked at the cost of the upcoming semester. I knew there was no way I could afford it.

 I remember talking to my best friend who encouraged me to join her at Alabama. I didn’t think twice; I applied and was accepted. I also remember feeling defeated initially when I realized I needed to transfer. One Sunday on the way back to school we stopped off of HWY 165 so I could see my aunt before I left. She slipped me a small piece of paper with the Bible verse Proverbs 3:5-6. Instantly this became my favorite verse. There have been many other pivotal moments in life where this same scripture has helped me. 

Let me hop off of memory lane. I am proud that I was raised in a small town. A small town where I was first introduced to the concept of a village or community. I had the privilege to know so many loving and kind people who rooted for my growth, success, and happiness. Some of those people are still rooting for me.

Ok, one more quick story. One evening as I was walking on campus to teach my evening course I received a text message. Long story short, it was my third grade teacher. She had just seen me on the local news and reached out to say she was proud of me. The message quickly uplifted my spirits. She was an instrumental member of my village.

While I’ve been skipping down memory lane this scripture dropped in my spirit: Zechariah 4:10: “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin”. I know typically this scripture focuses on small beginnings pertaining to tasks. However, as I think about this scripture I think about my humble beginnings in the small town of Eufaula, Alabama. A mighty work started not only in me but for many other people as well. As a full-grown adult with a little life experience under my belt I think about what statistics would say about someone like me from a small town in southeast Alabama. I am blessed to say I beat some of the very statistics that I stand before college students to discuss now.

Every once in a while, you need to look back to see how far God has brought you. It also encourages you to remember God has always been faithful.

What small beginnings do you need to reflect on in this moment?