Days go by.

My oh my how time changes. I've been looking through some old photos and I've smiled from some, teared up from others. It's hard to believe how much has changed even in the two years I've lived here in Nashville. I have so much pride for my little town I grew up in on the south side of Chicago.

Where everything was just down the road. Where you'd turn a corner and suddenly steeples poked up from every direction. Where you'd walk to McDonald's after school because it was the cool thing to do. Where on a cool crisp fall night, everybody and their mother wrapped up in blankets and winter coats to watch high school football games. Where there was but one snow day in twelve years. Where the trees were breathtaking when they showed their first signs of life after the cold winter. Where the community pool was packed every day with kids and their parents-who sat on the reclining chairs around the pool reminiscing about when they were young and swam in the very same pool. Where you could walk around downtown and get some ice cream, catch a train, or get a "Someone in Lemont loves me" t-shirt at the Budnik store. Where everybody said they'd always get out once they grew up and they'd never come back, but they found themselves right back there after college. Where every day was so full of promise, because the world was your oyster. Where everybody knew each other and knew everything about each other.

Some days I miss my little town. But when I go back, it's as if I've gone back in time and I'm back in high school, running around recklessly doing every little stupid thing I possibly could. And sometimes, it's so easy to miss the comfort that comes in being in the same place for a long time. Oftentimes, I wish I could go back in time and live in the past for a day or two. But time moves forward for a reason. Lemont is the kind of place that never changes. You could leave for 20 years and come back and nothing will have changed. That familiarity of everybody around me, I'm glad I grew up with that. Life was so wonderful and carefree growing up.

I'm learning that I can't just go back in time. Things will never be the way they used to be. Maybe someday I'll move back to that town 30 minutes south of the Windy City. The town where you could see the skyline on a clear day from the top of the hill at the high school. That town where you couldn't go anywhere without seeing at least ten people you knew.

But for now, I'm in Nashville. I'm not in Lemont. And I can't keep dwelling on how things used to be.
I will forever cherish those memories. Those stories that come from the town that raised me.

Missing little Lemont today.