Rogersville

I forget so easily how great of a town Rogersville really is, and I really don’t know why.

I just happened to be strolling (which has recently become a synonym for the verb ‘driving’) through “downtown” Rog early this afternoon with a compadre of mine, and it occurred to me just how long I have been living here and how much I love it.

I don’t really remember the big city scene, seeing as I was a small child. Infant, really. And I don’t remember not liking it, but I recall enjoying the country setting much more. Even though I sometimes dream of living in some cute apartment complex in New York, I just see myself in Rogersville. Maybe even for the rest of my life. I can see my kids being in the same classrooms that I once sat in, playing on the same playgrounds, and growing up in the same simple little town as I have. Rogersville has nothing to offer other than a great school system, conservative values, and an incredible high school baseball team, but we like it that way. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

I hear kids all the time at school…..”when I graduate I’m getting out of here!” or “I can’t wait to leave this dump.” (these are the bi-weekly ISS students, typically), but I actually get offended when I hear this. It’s kind of odd, but I guess I just have this real soft spot for my hometown. Some say that we can grow out of these sorts of things, but I’m not sure if it has anything to do with maturity. There are kids I go to school with who have four or five generations of LR graduates behind them, and they’re proud of it. I am proud to say that I’ve been going to Rogersville since kindergarten, that I know my previous teachers outside of school, that I bleed maroon and white, that I am familiar with almost every kid in my high school, and that I’ve been friends with nearly all the same classmates since I was little.

I love Rogersville….in all of its simplicity and splendor.