Before my book was published, the publisher had editors go through it. In the Introduction, I had written that the town of Sylvania boasted a population of 1,050. That’s what I remembered seeing on the town limit sign for many years when I was young. One of the editors made a note on that line, which read, “The population of Sylvania, Alabama is over 1900.” I had no idea it had grown so much. I agreed that we should change that in the book.
Last Thursday, when I spoke to grades 7-12 at Sylvania High School, I was in for another shock. Students began filing in and taking seats in the bleachers on one side of the new gym and kept coming. They filled up the entire set of bleachers from one side of the gym to the other. I asked the principal what the enrollment was, and he said for the entire school, it was close to 1,100. Yes, there are now more students at the school than there used to be citizens of the town.
For me, since I lived away for so long, it’s like when you don’t see a kid for many years, and when you finally see them years later, you’re surprised at how much they’ve grown. That’s how I see Sylvania. I still can’t get over the red light and Dollar General. I still tell people my mom lives on a dirt road, even though it has been graveled for a while. I guess there are no dirt roads anymore.
We may have to eventually change the name of the town because the word Sylvania means “wooded area.” When I drive around now, many places that used to be woods are now subdivisions. And these subdivisions consist of beautiful homes, much different than the average houses of yore.
I’m not knocking progress, of course, but there’s still a part of me that misses the rural simplicity of yesteryear. I miss the dirt roads and tiny wooden bridges. I miss the days before cell phones when playing Hide-and-Seek with your cousins was the best entertainment around. I miss the social get-togethers with family and neighbors. I miss when people were social in person rather than on social media.
I guess this is a normal reaction to getting older. Maybe it’s my youth I miss rather than all those other things. But what I wouldn’t give for one more visit to Finley’s Groceries, buying an RC Cola and a Moon Pie, playing one more game of Flies and Skinners, and swimming once more at Davis’s Wash Hole.
Oh well, c’est la vie. If they ever do change the name of the town, I have a suggestion – Nealville.