I literally live on the same property where I grew up. Mind you that property is a rural area surrounded by family and I tore down the old house and moved in a double wide trailer, so I'm not dealing with the kind of "old neighborhood" bullshit less rural people and folks that live IN a small town instead of a good bit away from it have. The downside is, with this particular holler being infested with my family for generations, it turns into Hillbilly Game of Thrones at least once per generation over some minor property line dispute or pissing match over whose dog is scattering trash or whose grandchild committed some random act of vandalism.

Having traveled a good bit and not giving in to the opposing idea that this place is perfect, just that it suits me and is good for my kids, I never gave in to the impulse to pull up roots and act like I'm better than the people here or act like I escaped some kind of hellish primitive society.

The irony of most of the people who got out and never looked back over the years is they just traded small town bullshit for different bullshit, or took the bullshit with them when they left. I'm not throwing shade at anybody trying to better themselves, but quite often the idea that your hometown is a shithole that ruins everything comes from people who aren't happy anywhere and aren't self aware enough to realize that.