This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to Our American Stories.

And up next, we have a listener story from Nancy Ball. Nancy lives in Birmingham,

Alabama, but grew up in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Today, Nancy reflects on her childhood

with a short story she wrote called Being an Ole Miss fan is in and of itself a lesson in humility.

Ole Miss is the college here in our small town of Oxford, Mississippi, a mere hour south of Memphis,

and for anyone who's been a fan of a perennial losing team, whether you are a Chicago Cubs fan

or you are a New York Giants football fan. You know what I'm talking about.

Here's Nancy to share her story. I grew up in the town of Inverness, Mississippi. The town of Inverness has a

population of approximately 1,000 people that bypassed put in around the town some 30 years ago negated the

need for the town's one red light. It is a farming community and is surrounded by fields of various

crops such as cotton, corn, and soybeans, as well as catfish bonds. I never gave much thought

about the childhoods of other people until I went away to a college located in a big metropolitan

city. It was then that I realized that not everyone had a similar childhood as mine. Of course,

that is not to say that a childhood spent in a small town versus a large city is superior. I had just

never given the difference as much thought. Childhood spent in a small town was all I knew.

Additionally, most people who I encountered during my childhood had also grown up in similar environments.

I was under the impression that all childhoods consisted of small towns where everyone knew each other's

names and their family histories going back for several generations.

I thought everyone else's small grocery store allowed its eight-year-old customers to charge

their purchases to their family's account with a simple signature.

I thought everyone else had a family reunion party on Christmas Eve, which had an attendance

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