The Weir House by Kaylyn Weir

I love my town, Jackson, Mississippi. It has taken me a while to truly appreciate it, but over the years, I've grown to love it's charming buildings, history and the people that come with it.

10 reasons I love my small, southern town:

1) Door locking is optional. (No, seriously..)
2) Sweet tea is the drink of choice. When you sit down at a restaurant, the waiter expects you to order sweet tea.
3) "Y'all" is incorporated into everyone's vocabulary. I don't know any word equivalent.
4) When you're out of town, your neighbor collects your mail, your newspaper, waters your plants, puts your packages inside- all free of charge. You have a friendship with your plumber and bug man, and the dry cleaners comes to your house and picks up your clothes.
5) Everybody holds the door open for one another.
6) In a small town, you're one big family. You lean on each other in good times and in bad. You know who is going through what and when. And everyone is always there to help. You're never alone.
7) Getting from point A to point B takes less than 5 minutes.
8) There really isn't any crime. When someone in our town gets pulled over for speeding, 5 cop cars follow. Unnecessary.
9) It's a slower pace of living. It makes you appreciate the small stuff.
10) I've built memories around this town. I can drive by my childhood home at any time of day. I can see where I had my first birthday party, reminisce on times spent at the gas station I hung around in high school, the soccer field I played on when I was 5, the old gym I took ballet in as a child. I know every curve, nook and cranny of this town. And when i'll raise a family of my own, i'll get to do all of these things over again, in a special and different way.

10 reasons I wanna get the heck out of dodge:

1) You know the days where you have no makeup, a huge zit and a baseball cap on? Low profile or not, you run into someone no matter where you go.
2) Once you've seen everything, you've seen everything...
3) Your days can get kind of repetitive. The same restaurants, the same shops.
4) The "no crime thing" is great. But the police here can be a little dramatic, for example: during high school, a bunch of us went back to a friends house after prom and hung out in the garage. A cop driving by heard noise and assumed we were all drinking. We most definitely were not. He then proceeded to order "back up" and demanded we call our parents to pick us up. It was in the AM hours, and he didn't even care to do a breathalyzer. Our poor parents.
5) Everyone knows all of your business. When something happens, everyone knows it. If you're a private person, I don't suggest living in a small town.
6) Living in a small, southern town can be difficult because everyone is very traditional. They expect you to do what everyone else does. If it's out of the norm, it's considered weird.
7) Lots of land means lots of deer and lots of wrecks. You get the picture.
8) Stores close early. Nuff said.
9) There are a lot of stray animals. I don't know if this is a small town thing or city people have it too? We just took in 4 kittens we found this summer. Currently, our pet count is up to 9 pets.
10) You aren't really exposed to different cultures. It's just good ole southern people.