Where I'm From

   When I think of my hometown I think of two words: classy and friendly.  I am from Aurora, Nebraska.  Population… about 5,000.  Aurora is the type of town where you can walk the streets alone at night and not have to worry about somebody kidnapping you.  The type of town where you can go into the Aurora Mall searching for some milk and wind up spending about an hour in the store chatting with someone you know.  The type of town where everybody waves at oncoming cars, gives a smile to someone they don’t know very well, and not talking to strangers is frowned upon.
               I am from a town where people volunteer at our local theatre and a place called the youth center.  The youth center is a spot downtown  where kids can go play video games, watch movies, and hang out with friends.  It keeps those ‘troubled’ kids out of trouble.  It’s great that in the community I live in, people are willing to sacrifice time out of their busy schedules and give back to the town that gives so much to them.
               We have a little coffee shop that has the best ice cream, Italian sodas, and toffee steamers around.  The toffee steamers really hit the spot on those blustery winter days.  Runza is the best spot to hang out after volleyball and basketball games.  It’s amazing how much fun you can have when the whole place is packed with students from one end of the room to the other.  After football games the whole student section, cheerleaders, and football players all pile into pizza hut.  Not only do we make the workers mad by coming in at eleven o’clock pm, but I don’t think anybody truly ever pays the right amount. But we all say please and thank you so that shouldn’t really matter anyway, right?

               I am from Aurora High School, home of the huskies.  Courage. Power. Strength. Pride.  Tradition.  A tradition in excellence.  Excellent football team, excellent education system, and excellent class.  I am from a school where chanting “nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts, we got screwed!” at referees gets us some unforgettable dirty looks  by our Principal, also known as my dad.  Our administrators and teachers have high expectations for us.  For instance, if we leave trash on a bus or in another team’s locker room, we will have to run.  I can recall after a basketball game at Holdrege the girls’ team helped the janitor pick all the trash up out of the bleachers.  Of course Mr. Larsen was impressed but we never got rewarded or a shortened practice.  Those things are just expected to come natural to us Aurorans.  I can’t say the everyone is nice to everyone.  We have our clicks and our best friends and our two faced friends.  But when it all comes down to it, you can count of most people for having your back.  I am from a school where janitors are people too.  They say ‘hello’ and are friendly, conversational people.  Unlike your stereotypical janitors. I probably talk to them more than half of our teaching staff.

               I come from a Christian family; A family who goes to church every Sunday morning and prays at every dinner meal.  I am from a family that spends countless Saturdays cleaning the house from ceiling to carpet and wall to wall.  My mom and my dad have spent 17 and a half years raising me to be their version of an ideal daughter.  We try to eat supper together as a family every day that ends in Y.  My family likes to go on vacations at least once a summer.  Our general tradition is going up to Minnesota and staying on a cabin for a week on a lake. Sadly, we don’t do that anymore due to our hectic schedules but a weekend in Omaha is just as relaxing.  I have a younger brother named Jake.  He is three years younger than me and a pain in the butt.  Although he is a pain, we’ve grown a lot closer and he is becoming somewhat more tolerable than he was a couple of years ago. Sports plays a big role in my family’s life.  We’ve spent countless Saturdays at volleyball tournaments.  My parents get stuck racing from Jake’s game to my game.  Although I can sense how stressed out they get sometimes, I know that when I graduate and when my brother graduates, they’ll have nothing to do.  They’re lives are going to feel empty and incomplete.
               Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in Lincoln or Omaha.  I can see myself possibly living there when I’m older.  Then I think how much I would miss out on.  I love being able to walk around everywhere here in Aurora and I also love the fact that I know most of the residents that live here.  I wouldn’t trade this town and my family for anything.  Home truly is where the heart is.