What seemed so big back then is so small now. There is a big difference between the eyes of a child and the eyes of a 70-year-old. I returned to look at all the things that were so big in my life as I came to age in Bastrop, LA.
The first thing I noticed was the house I grew up in. It was never large, just medium sized. I was just the right size for Momma and me. It is all about perspective. My whole life has been about perspective.
I left Bastrop for Los Angeles ten days after my seventeenth birthday. I left everything I knew about the world behind and headed for a land full of unknown. The first thing I noticed was the people did not sound like I sounded or talk like I talked. I had to listen hard and attentively to understand what they were saying to me. Where I’d come from, we listened hard, in this new place they listened attentively. I was learning. 
They didn’t understand me anymore than I understood them. The one thing that stood out most to me was how we used vowels. I used “a” where they used “I”. For example, rang/ring, (meaning the thing we wear on our fingers), thang/thing, etch/itch. I had a lot of unlearning to do. Many people thought the way I spoke was cute, but I knew that in order to make it in this new world, I had to make some changes. I came there looking for a lot and I intended to get it all.
I spent time listening attentively and talking very little. I practiced my speech when I was alone. I was afraid to speak this new language out loud because it sounded foreign coming out of my mouth. Then there were some things that did not mean the same thing they meant at home. For instance, at home if I asked for a drink everyone knew I was speaking of a soft drink. In this new place, a drink meant an alcoholic beverage. I said I was going uptown, they said downtown.
This is when I learned about setting goals and staying with it until I reached what I wanted. I didn’t have these words to explain it when I was that 17/18-year-old southern country girl, but I knew the feel of it, and I learned how to replicate it.
I came to realize that I had people modeling this for me all my life in that small town. I watched my aunt hone her craft as a powerful speaker who traveled throughout the south speaking and teaching at revivals. I learned social skills watching her.
I watched and learned from Mr. Walter as he showed me useful herbs and berries and seeds and roots to use for health. I learned science watching him. 
I watched and learned as Momma raised vegetables and chickens for our meals and extra to barter with neighbors for things we didn’t have. She traded eggs for butter and milk with the lady who had cows, she traded vegetables for fruit. I learned that is not always about money watching her.
I watched and learned as Mrs. Bessie made intricate crochet scarves and doilies without patterns. I learned art and creativity watching her.
I watched Brother Weary run his small grocery store across the street from my house. I saw people exchange money for good all my young life at his store. I learned economics and entrepreneurship watching him and his wife.
I was exposed to big things and opportunities in the city, but it was the little things I brought with me from the country that made me successful. That is why I had to return, to take another look and return the favor.
