Had my music on shuffle today and 17 by Cross Canadian Ragweed (written by Cody Canada & Jason Boland) came on. I forget how much I really love this song and how much joy it brings me to listen to it. I didn’t sing as loudly as I usually do, having a sleeping baby & a nurse in the house will do that to you.

This was the song we played as I pulled away from my parents house, Uhaul packed with all my worldly possessions & pulling my car, moving to Texas. It would be the first time I ever lived more then 10 miles from the house I grew up in. Leaving my hometown was hard. Harder then I ever imagined, and so many changes in the four years since.

Near the end of my CoMO years, I felt like was 17 again. I had moved back home, hanging out with a few people I knew at 17, seeing people at the bars that I knew when I 17. Had anyone left? Yes, I knew they had, it was all over Facebook. I was still in the job I had gotten right out of college (located right there in my hometown).

Looking back, I was afraid to take risks in my hometown, whether it be leaving a relationship or a job or doing out of my comfort zone. And then I just knew I had to get out of there to get on with my life, so late one Sunday night, I applied for a job in Dallas. A month later, a friend, who later became my husband, drove me and that Uhaul to Lewisville, Texas.

Now, I can return to my hometown, maybe act like 17 year old Rachel for a bit, go to the bars I consider my Cheers, see my friends and return to my life, happy with where I am now.

But really, aren’t we all always 17 in our hometowns?