“I’ll never live in Hamilton County.” – Hayden C.T. Parsons, circa 2017
I have found as I grow older that I should choose my words more carefully, since they often have come back to bite me.
I grew up far away from the hustle and bustle of the Indianapolis metropolitan area in a small town outside of South Bend. I never experienced big city life. Even throughout college, my studies relegated me to stay close to campus. Never in my life have I thought I would be planting my roots near Indianapolis, let alone a prestigious area like Hamilton County.
An outsider to Hamilton County only knows the area by one thing – money. From what I would hear growing up, Hamilton County was made out to be a place where the houses were gold-plated and everyone drove a Mercedes-Benz. To be fair, since I’ve moved here, I have seen a lot more Mercedes-Benz than I had living in a small rural town.
But it’s not just the houses and the cars that are new to me, it’s the size of everything. High school football fields here look the same size as small to mid-size colleges. It’s hard to miss Westfield High School’s football field driving down U.S. 31. Even the sheer number of stores, both franchises and mom and pop shops, is astronomical. I was blown away to find out that there is a *Insert Name of Any Store* within five minutes of my house. It’s definitely not the 20-minute drive to the closest Walmart that I grew accustomed to.
I kept thinking to myself as I was making final preparations to make the move, “How am I going to fit in here?” However, what I have come to realize is there is much more to Hamilton County than wealth.
Something that shocked me as I drove a 20-foot U-Haul towards Noblesville was a piece of small-town Indiana I thought I had left behind – corn. One second you’re cruising through the suburbs and suddenly you’re driving down a country road surrounded by cornfields. This wasn’t the place I was led to believe it was.
As I have been integrating into the community, meeting neighbors and friends in my new hometown, I realized something profound. If you dig through Hamilton County’s shiny exterior there is bit of a small-town underneath. The people I’ve met so far have welcomed me with open arms, showing me around my new home with an enthusiastic spirit.
Hamilton County is a big place, but, while it may be hidden from the surface, Hamilton County still has a piece of that small-town charm that makes it feel like home. There is a lot to learn here, and I want to experience it all. After all, a person is nothing more than the sum of their experiences.
Hayden C. T. Parsons is the newest associate at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville.