One of my favorite pals in elementary school was smart as a whip and more fun than Disneyworld. Her family moved away when we were in the 6th grade, leaving a void in our close-knit classroom.

Her home was neat and well-kept and her family was a a lot like the rest of us. They lived a hard working (but happy) life in the country.

After my childhood friend graduated from college and had been working for a well known company for 20 years, she visited the community from her past, including a visit with me.

It took me about 10 minutes to see that she was as kind, witty, and as much fun as ever. But one thing about her had changed.

She had decided her early life in rural Alabama didn't measure up to what those who had grown up in the big city experienced. Clouding her vision even more was the fact that she had become acclimated to big city life and somehow lost the positive aspects of her starting point.

When she said her business associates thought her formative years in our rural community in northwest Alabama was the equal of "Hee-Haw," I just had to intervene.

I told her that her life was nothing like that. I reprimanded her for not presenting her young years in their true light. We didn't have the amenities of city life, but we had wide open spaces and fresh air; our needs were always met and we had some of what we wanted.

I reminded her of a few of those things. She was the first in our classroom to have a television (a big console model). Then I rekindled her memory concerning the roller skates she got for Christmas when we were in second grade. I also reminded her of the neatly kept farmhouse she called home and the fact that she had a long, smooth, concrete walkway in front of that home on which she honed her skating skills.

She and I laughed as we recalled that she got good enough to jump from her top doorstep, land on the walkway, skate to the end, and (sometimes) manage to make a quick turn and skate back.

I painted a vivid picture of how her mother always planted flowers on either side of that long walkway each spring. These are things to share with folks who think they know what growing up rural is about, but only know propaganda.

I assured her she was the envy of her classmates when, the year after she got the skates, Santa brought her a leather jacket with fringe. She also got a Davy Crocket coonskin cap to make the outfit complete (she was a bit of a tomboy).

As we reminisced, my friend saw the light of country sunshine. I trust she has let it shine on those who have lived in the shadows of skyscrapers so long that they refuse to recognize any other way of life as good.

LaVale Mills is publisher of The Red Bay News, P.O. Box 1339, Red Bay, AL 35582