I grew up a country boy. Some times I say small town boy, and that’s partly true as I went to school in town from grade 5 through high school. And I lived in town for a couple years. But the truth of the story is that I lived in the country from 1982 to 1992 and 1993 to 2000.

The first 10 years were spent in lovely Garden Hill, Ontario and ages 11 to 18 were outside of Welcome, Ontario in the house that my mom and step-dad still live in today.

With those details out in the open you can see that it’s been quite some time since I lived out in the country. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not still a country boy.

I stopped to think about some of the things that still make me identify with that personality and these are some of the points that I came up with…

– When given the option I will choose wool work socks 9 times out of 10.

– I love my 10 year old cowboy boots.

– I always look both ways before I cross the street… even on one way streets. 

– I feel foolish when I see people point before they cross the street and have never done it myself. 

– There are times when it still seems way too easy to order food any kind of food for delivery at any time of day.

– I still think that public transit is the bees knees no matter how much people bitch about it. 

– I have John Deere tractor toys on my desk at work.

– I dream of owning the house out in the country with the yard and woods and pond. 

– I think that girls with pony tails and baseball caps driving pickup trucks are really cute. 

I’m sure that there are more things that I don’t notice or think about or have forgotten. My friends probably notice things and are either polite enough not to make fun or think it’s adorable.

Either way, I have no shame. I love Toronto and Ottawa and living in the city. But that will never mean that I’m not the kid that grew up in the country.

Start singing John Denver lyrics here…

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Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.