The month of November as a college student is the month that brings both stress and relief. Classes are inching closer and closer to finals, but Thanksgiving break releases us college kids. I was stoked to have a break and not worry about classes or homework for a week, but I was also sad to leave people I’ve grown so close to. Now don’t get me wrong, I was so happy to see my family and be with them, maybe even see some old friends, but the one thing I didn’t expect when I went home was being in a Hallmark movie.
We all know about Hallmark movies, especially the cheesy ones that come out during Christmastime. The city girl gets a gig or goes home to her small town for Christmas. There she meets a childhood friend, prince, or farmer/baker boy. The two are forced to work with each other and at the beginning dislike each other. Yet, throughout the movie, the two characters fall in love. The protagonist not only falls in love with the small town boy, but the small town itself, and moves there to live happily ever after.
Now despite the majority of the population enjoying these types of movies, I for one am not a fan. Unfortunately, being a girl who grew up in the city, moved to a small town, and then ran away back to a city for college, I became the protagonist in this soon to be Hallmark. I’ve never noticed the Hallmark themes in my little town of Junction, but when I went home for break, it hit me like a brick.
I was shopping at a store in Circleville, Stan’s Merc, when my dad and I ran into some friends, one of them being a local farmer. It was around 6 o’clock, so it was dark outside. The cold, bitter air brushed against your cheek when you walked outside. I watched the scene break out in front of me as my family talked to the farmer who was checking out. As the farmer was leaving the store, he nodded his head and tipped the brim of his hat with the nod of goodbye to my father and me. He grabbed his groceries and walked outside the store to his truck parked across the street. His truck was probably still running to keep the kiss of the cold away.
As he walked across the street, I envisioned a scene from any Hallmark movie.
The farmer had talked to the city girl, who had moved away. They had caught up on life. One asked how college was, the other asked how the high school basketball game the previous night had been. Both once lived within proximity of each other, worried about local basketball games, now only one sees these home games. The small town life was once enjoyed and normal to both parties, now one went to parties on the weekends. The reunion of the two lives gave a homely feeling to the city protagonist.
And as the farmer walked to his truck, the flashbacks of small town living flooded back to me. I wasn’t about to fall in love with the farmer, but if I wasn’t careful, I might fall back in love with the small town I left.
After I watched the local farmer I turned to my father with laughter and said, “You know, when I came home for the weekend I didn’t expect to come home to being in a Hallmark movie! You live in a Hallmark movie!”
Feature image caption: Stans Merc, the store in Junction where Ari’s whole Hallmark scene played out. Courtesy of Ari Hurdsman.
Ari Hurdsman – Junction
Ari Hurdsman is a junior journalist at the Byway. She just recently moved to Ephraim, Utah, where she is a freshman at Snow College. She enjoys writing about Piute sports, and she’s really good at it! In her free time, she enjoys singing, dancing, reading and hanging out with friends and family.