Small Town Research Paper

A small town or a big city both can be a memory of a childhood and each one over the years has had much change in them. Maybe the big city has expanded or the small town has arisen from its unknown spot on the map.

Growing up my grandparents had a second house in Onalaska, Texas, a small town about two hours out of Houston. We would drive up every weekend to get away from the crowded city life. The town was very quiet with only one road going through it and one stop light to slow you down. The single road was lined by restaurants and shops ran by the good people that lived in the town. Population was low and everyone seemed to know your name.

A dirt road lead up the hill where the house sat. It was surrounded by woods filled with creeks, trails

and the chirps of different birds. I would play in the woods for countless hours letting my imagination run wild. A tall tree would turn in to a command post and a squirrel would be an enemy troop trying to attack me. Traffic on the roads was very minimum maybe a car once or twice a day, which made for a great place to ride my dirt bike. Three to four times a day I would tell my grandparents that I was going for a ride and would travel down the roads leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind me.
These memories still run through my mind on a daily basis. The memories of a childhood will never be replaced, but the place where those memories happened can change drastically. As the years progressed so did the small town. The population has nearly doubled. The one stop light road lined by small business was replaced by well know fast food chains and major companies. The dirt roads I once rode on became covered by asphalt. New houses took place of the wooded area. Trails and creeks turned in to a backyard and sounds of birds chirping in the woods was masked by the sounds of children playing.
As I return to the place about once a year it is still changing. My grandparents now live in that house we used to visit, which is now in the middle of a neighborhood. As I drive up the road I see kids playing in the back yard and I know they would have enjoyed the woods, trails and creeks. The small town may be making its way to a small city but in my mind it will always be that small town.