By Alicia Dowell, Miss September 2014

When I was growing up, my neighborhood was very different from my friends’ who were growing up in town. There would be days where the only vehicles that came down our road were the other people who lived on our road.

The only drawback was the limited amount playmates, my sisters were who I spent most of my time with. I learned very quickly the best place to hide from them when we all had enough of each other. The best pluses of living in our neighborhood were my Mamaw lived two houses down from where we lived. When I say two houses down, it was close to a quarter mile down the road. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to walk down to Mamaw’s house alone. It always seemed like my older sister could do whatever she wanted because she was just the right age. Child logic is was a strange thing.

Finally at the age of nine, I was old enough walk down the road alone to stay the night with Mamaw. All I could think of when I got the end of our driveway, I looked back at the house and didn’t see anyone. Yes my Momma told me it was okay and that Mamaw was waiting but as I viewed her house which seemed like it was so far away. There was no way I could do this alone. My mom HAD to come with me. It was the only way to get there. She agreed to walk half way there so I could still have the joy of walking alone. (This was in the time before cell phones and having to worry about letting your kids out of your sight.) So there I was walking the last half alone with my sleeping bag and backpack thinking how cool it was.

Times have changed where now; I would never think to let my child walk alone. But we do have the luck to live in a neighborhood which is just family who live on a dead end road. I feel safe letting my child walk down to her Great-Grandmother’s while I am with her and not worrying about anything. It is nice to let her have some the good parts of childhood.