I used to envy people who lived their whole lives in the same place.

I thought it was cool to know someone from birth to death. Although I still think that is pretty cool, I highly recommend traveling. I don’t mean going to the Bahamas or Hawaii either; see what our country has to offer!

I was born in Naples, Fla., and lived there till I was 8 years old. We then moved to Beaverton, Ore., where I lived till I graduated high school. Then I came back to the south to Troy.

Now, you’re probably wondering why someone from Oregon would want to come to Alabama. Well, amongst all of my reasons, I wanted to see a different part of the country.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love Oregon. I encourage anyone who loves the outdoors to take a trip there because you’ve never seen anything as beautiful as the outdoors of Oregon. However, I had lived there so long it was time to see something else.

Side note: I also got a college scholarship to play softball. So, that definitely helped me in choosing what part of the country I was going to after high school.

Now that I’m here in the south, I love it, too! It’s funny to me because I am from a huge city in Oregon, similar to what Birmingham would be to Alabama. But I have loved every minute of being in a small town like Troy.

It’s kind of funny to me. I didn’t think I would like it enough to not want to move back home.

Moving here has given me so many opportunities to travel and see new things.

It also helped that I made friends with people from different areas for me to be introduced too. My only wish is that people will travel around them, see something different.

You never know what’s out there if you don’t experience it. Heck, if I had never come to Troy, I wouldn’t have the opportunity I have now to see the “Friendliest City in the South,” Luverne. Even though it’s only 20 minutes from Troy, I really had never been to Luverne, except passing through to get somewhere else.

From working for The Luverne Journal I have seen so much, I never knew what Crenshaw County was or who lived here or what there was to do here. From my short time here, I have enjoyed discovering new things! Just the other day, I had the pleasure of driving through Gantt Lake.

Although it’s not within the limits of Crenshaw County, it sure is pretty close! I was reminded again how much is around you if you open your eyes and travel just a little bit, you can find something new.