The McCollumn - 6/3: 'We may not be perfect, but Heaven knows we try'

I forget about the simple joys this town has to offer.

Being born and raised here, and having lived here for almost all of my 25 years of existence, I have a tendency to overlook how blessed we all are to live here.

By and large, we possess certain little joys here that make our living here that much more bearable, more enjoyable than the lives of our neighbors.

We must never forget we live in a city that has Mrs. Story’s and its malted chocolate shakes. Yes, we all know the chili dogs are phenomenal, but you can lose yourself in a chocolate malted. They really don’t make them like that any more, anywhere else.

The last Thursday of every month, you can head out to the Sportsplex and listen to a live band while you ballroom or line dance the night away with your sweetie. And, guys, if you don’t have a sweetie, there are plenty of women there waiting to dance with you, I promise.

For that matter, the Summer Swing concert series at the Municipal Park (Monkey Park to the locals) is a must-see. You missed Fake Neil Diamond, who was an excellent showman, but I’ve no doubt the rest of the lineup will be phenomenal.

I’ve driven down a county dirt road or two, listening to music and just allowing myself a brief respite from the demands of the world around me.

Just me, the car, some music and the natural splendor of rural Lee County.

Absolutely necessary for mental health, I assure you.

Anytime I consider packing it all up and leaving, going somewhere else and just doing something different, I always am presented with reasons why I have and will continue to stay.

When it gets down to it, I actually enjoy seeing people I know almost everywhere I go.

It’s one of the main perks of being from a place that maintains a small town feel: We all at least know of each other, if we don’t, in fact, know one another.

Names can trigger a question game midst local residents, and we generally figure out how we could know one another in six moves or less.

It’s our own version of the Kevin Bacon game - the Opelika Network.

This network can come in handy for us even when we leave the bounds of our little locality.

There are Opelikans almost everywhere. I have no doubt you could visit most of the globe and leave with instructions from home to visit at least three or four formerly local folks who now live there.

Even the reigning Miss Manhattan is an Opelika girl.

We’re a lucky town to be filled with such a large amount of interesting people.

Not many of us are sane, but I’ve found crazy people are more fun to be around anyway.

Sound travels faster than light here, but we maintain, “It isn’t gossip. It’s sharing and caring. If we didn’t care about them...”

I’ll buy it.

As Randy Newman once wrote, “We may not be perfect, but Heaven knows we try.”

A good motto for us, I think.

Opelika certainly isn’t perfect, but, Heaven knows, we try.

Opelika is, and for the foreseeable future shall be, my home.

It’s taken me years to be able to admit this next part, though:

I’m happy about it.