Nothing reminds you of your roots more than a pat on the head.

I came to this realization earlier this week when, while covering a meeting, a community member used it as his greeting.

To be fair, this gentleman has known me since I was “this high,” so while most people’s initial reaction to the gesture typically reserved for toddlers may have been pure outrage, I just grinned and shook my head.

I like to think of myself as a humble person, but I’ll be honest, if someone had patted me on the head in any place other than Niles, I probably would have fallen into the former category. I’m quite certain I could not have bitten my tongue.

So why did this old friend escape my wrath?

Because he has put in the time and energy to know me well enough to do so.

I’m at the age where people I grew up with seem to measure their success in miles from home. Friends who left our hometown to start lives in new places often ask me why I decided to come back to Niles.

The answer is simple: I’m proud of my roots, and I feel blessed to be able to serve them.

Of course being invested in and involved in a community helps journalists understand their readers. I feel I have a better understanding of what people want to read about, and in a lot of cases, I know exactly who to talk with to gain that information.

Anyone who returns to work in their hometown likely understands the challenges it presents but, for me, the advantages outweigh the obstacles.

Sure, sometimes it is challenging to remind people like the aforementioned head-patter that I am a grown woman. Sometimes it is even difficult to hold my own among people who used to teach me or manage me (I still can’t bring myself to call them by their first names).

But nothing beats the feeling of coming full circle, completely overtaken by deja vu as I report on a meeting in the very same place I spent countless hours devouring library books for the better part of my middle/high school years, or standing on stage delivering a graduation address seven years after I walked across the stage myself.

Maybe some people feel like they have made it when they are at the top of an ivory tower overlooking a big city full of millions of strangers, but I’m perfectly content — and extremely proud — to be living in Niles

Living in Niles, I have a built-in support system full of people I have known the majority of my life, many of whom have invested in me, guided me and helped me along the way.

This is why, when the gentleman in that meeting momentarily forgot I was an adult and greeted me like he has for the better part of 20 years, I was not upset, angry or embarrassed.

Coming from someone who has supported me the majority of my life, this casual gesture — although usually reserved for children — felt a lot less like a pat on the head, and a whole lot more like a pat on the back.

 

Ambrosia Neldon is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com