I have lived in Newburyport, Massachusetts for my entire life and to this day it is still my favorite place in the world. There are great people there, great organizations, and so many fun things to do there that keep me busy at all times. I’m not really sure how other people look at their hometowns, but mine to me has a much deeper meaning than just where I grew up. This place has shaped me into who I am today, through all of the good and bad things that have happened there over time. Whenever I am not home and I am feeling down, all I need to do is think about the good memories I have from Newburyport and right away I feel warm inside again. Some of my greatest memories of my hometown took place at the downtown area, which to me is a truly magnificent sight to see.

It will be hard for me to set the scene for downtown Newburyport because it is one of those places you kind of have to see for yourself. Downtown Newburyport is one of my favorite places I have ever been to. Placed right on the water it offers a great sight for sore eyes, but also offers much more than that. There are great restaurants all around there and there are many other fun things to do like taking a whale watch out on the ocean. First of all, when you’re walking through the center of downtown, you’ll see rows of beautiful brick buildings that almost take you back in time. If you didn’t already know this Newburyport is a colonial town and the downtown is very old, so when you walk through you get a taste of the colonial style buildings. Within these buildings are all sorts of different things like little shops, restaurants, and even some small businesses. Just a little bit down the way is a place called Market Square, which is a small park where people can go and relax and enjoy the sight. After walking through Market Square and as you come closer to the water, you will see several different fantastic restaurants, which all in their own respect are very good and very high quality. As you continue walking, you will come across a gorgeous lawn area where people can picnic and feel the nice sea breeze and smell that nice ocean scent that I truly love so much. After crossing that, there is the boardwalk, which is my favorite place downtown. It’s an old wooden boardwalk right alongside the water, perfect for hanging out with your friends, or for looking at all the boats coming and going in and out of the busy harbor. In the harbor there are many different types of boats you will see ranging from fishing and lobster boats, to huge yachts, and also your average day boaters. Often there would be a fishy smell, which I kind of liked, but not always. I loved to come look at the boats because I love boats, but what I liked even more about the boardwalk was that it was a place where my friends and I could hang out.

Literally everyone would hang out there; ranging from all ages and all different kinds of kids, it was just a cool place where kids could hang out with their friends and have a good time. I remember one specific time back when I was in the sixth grade like it was yesterday. My friends and I went to the board walk with a big group of friends, but something was different about this time, and that was that we were hanging out with girls too instead of just the guys. This was the first time any of us actually hung out with girls and we were kind of nervous at first. You have to remember I was in sixth grade, so talking to girls back then for me was a bit of a nerve racking experience. At this point in my life I lacked confidence in myself and found it difficult to branch off with people I wasn’t familiar to. I was a bit of a shy kid growing up and didn’t really put myself out there too much. Getting into the details of the story, my friend Mike and I had two girls we were really fond of who were friends with each other. We wanted to single them out and hang with them two on two, but we were so nervous to do it and we had no idea how we were going to accomplish this. Finally, we got the kahunas to do it, and we asked them to hang out. At first it was extremely awkward, and when I say awkward I’m talking no words were spoken for at least ten minutes. It was not long after that though that I came to an enlightening realization, and I kind of just thought to myself, why am I nervous? What was there to lose that I was nervous to say how I felt about them. After that I boldly asked one of the girls out. This was one of the most defining moments of my life and a game changer for me. Luckily for me the girl said yes. This had a huge impact on my life. It kind of allowed me to break out of my comfort zone and I realized I shouldn’t be nervous to do things like that and that I should have confidence no matter what. Before this moment I would have never done anything like that. I was just a shy kid and really goofy around my friends, but for some reason an urge came across me to change that. Now that I think about it, the atmosphere of the boardwalk was what prompted me to do it. Just hanging out there seeing all the sophisticated older people with their girlfriends and wives having a great time made me want the same thing. I decided I wanted to act more adult like them and I wanted to be that bold, ambitious kid, rather than the shy kid on the sidelines watching the game go by. After that I decided I wasn’t going to be the shy kid anymore and that I was going to be the kid making the plays in the game. That moment at the boardwalk that day was one I will remember forever.

I am glad that I had this place to go to growing up and if I didn’t, I don’t know what my life would be like now. I strongly believe that this place has taken part in shaping my life and I also believe that if I didn’t grow up in Newburyport, I would be a somewhat different person today. I am grateful for being who I am.