Every Summer The DNA Of Clinton Changes

By Clay Mansell

Every summer, the DNA of Clinton changes.

I have always known that graduating seniors eventually leave home, but I understand it differently this year. My oldest child just left for Mississippi Sate, and for the first time, I am watching it happen from the parent’s side.

Each May, Clinton graduates hundreds of seniors. We celebrate them, take pictures, attend ceremonies and congratulate them on everything they have accomplished. Graduation feels like the big ending, but it really begins a slow goodbye that takes place over the next 60 days.

These are not simply names printed in a graduation program. These young people have been part of the everyday life of our town.

They entertained us on Friday nights as members of the band, cheerleaders, and football team. They performed in school plays, competed on athletic fields and represented Clinton in academic competitions. They worked at our coffee shops, waited on us in restaurants, bagged our groceries and helped us find what we needed in local stores.

They were the lifeguards at the pool, counselors at summer camps and referees at recreation league games. They babysat our children, taught them in after-school programs and helped with Vacation Bible School. They coached younger teams, volunteered at community events and served alongside us.

They sang in our church choirs, played in our worship bands and sat beside us on Sunday mornings. They helped in the nursery, led younger students and became the big kids our little kids looked up to.

They have been our neighbors, employees, teammates, classmates, friends and, most importantly, our children.

For 18 years, Clinton helped raise them.

Then, over the course of one summer, they begin to leave.

Some enter the workforce. Some attend trade school. Some join the military. Some move into college dorm rooms across Mississippi, while others travel much farther from home.

We are fortunate that a few will begin their careers right here in Clinton or attend Mississippi College. We will still see them around town. But by the hundreds, our seniors, our babies, leave 39056.

It does not happen all at once. One leaves in July for military training. Another moves into an apartment to begin a job. Another leaves for preseason practice, band camp or sorority recruitment. Then come the college move-in days.

One by one, vehicles are loaded. Bedrooms are left quieter than they have ever been. Parents drive away from college campuses with an empty seat in the car.

Within about 60 days, a large part of the life we knew has left the town that raised them.

For those of us with seniors, there is another realization that comes with it. The full group may never be together in Clinton again.

There may never be another large group picture of all of them standing together on the brick streets of Olde Towne. Their high school friends will scatter across different campuses, cities, careers and branches of the military.

Our church youth group spent years together. They worshipped together, traveled together, went on mission trips together and grew up together. Now I find myself wondering if they will ever all be home on the same weekend again.

Of course, many of them will come home. They will return for holidays, ballgames, weddings and class reunions. We will see them at restaurants and church. We will hear about new jobs, engagements, marriages and, eventually, children of their own.

But it will never be exactly the same.

They will come home as visitors, even when Clinton will always be home.

The town will move forward. A new class will step into those senior roles. New faces will lead the band, cheer under the Friday night lights and take the field. Younger students will begin working at the coffee shop, helping with after-school programs and becoming the ones our children look up to.

That is how a town continues. One group leaves, another steps forward and the DNA of the community changes a little more.

We spend 18 years preparing our children for this moment. We teach them, encourage them and tell them they can go anywhere and do anything. We want them to leave home ready to build lives of their own.

Still, no one really prepares parents for the moment when they do.

And no one prepares us for how different our town feels when they are gone.

Every summer, Clinton sends another group of young people into the world. We are proud of them. We are excited for them. We cannot wait to see what they accomplish.

But we also miss them, because they did not just leave their homes.

They took a small piece of our town with them.