h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have someone I adore that lives in Hicksville, Ohio. We have been friends since we were the age of five. She moved to Hicksville when we were young teenagers and I would go and stay with her quite frequently. Her home was my home and her family mine as well.

As an early teenager and from rural Indiana myself, I suppose the need to find many things to do would seem most significant. We were quite happy there. Even though I scratched and clawed to find a way out of the rural areas in Indiana as well as Ohio. My first true love was found there in Hicksville and therefore I have very fond memories of the town. Many hopes and dreams depended on that young love / relationship. I called off the wedding two days prior of the actual wedding date, which in a small town, can stir many rumors. However, most people were very kind.

Just recently, due to my Father's illness in Indiana I returned to Hicksville to see my old friend, her husband and children who now are at the same age we were as young teens creating our life time memories. I watched, listened and with a warm heart fell back in love with Hicksville. To see the youth, with their many dreams, also making life long memories. Took me back to simpler times. Young love, young dreams and young spirits growing in a quaint atmosphere. Where most everyone knows each other. If your child is possibly heading in the wrong direction someone will tell you. Someone who has seen them in town.

There was a time I poked fun at small towns in Ohio and Indiana. I might have found humor in your article, but now I take it to heart. There's always a warm hello and a sincere "How are you doing today". When you walk into a store one day and return another, they remember you. They look at you, not through you.

Hicksville is America at its best. I'm forty years old and just starting to realize that simplicity is heavenly and warming to the soul. I will never live where I grew up again. I've landed in Texas. Where the skies are bigger and the land stretches on and on. So, small and less some times truly is better. I'm able to carry it within my heart, always.