By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Twenty-year-old Haley Lloyd grew up in Columbiana, but decided to try her hand at living up north last year.

“I grew up here and lived here for 19 years,” Lloyd said. “Last year, I moved to Ohio with my boyfriend to his hometown. We moved because of the job situation and stuck it out for a year.

“I really didn’t want to leave (Columbiana), but you just have to get out sometimes,” she added. “It’s got that homey feel, and it’s hard to leave it for so long.”

Lloyd’s boyfriend, Josh Wright, a graduate of Pelham High School and an electrician at Champion Electric in Calera, moved to Pelham about 10 years ago, she said.

“He was used to the cold when he was little, and when he moved down here, he thought it was so hot,” Lloyd said. “His mom got remarried, so they moved down here. He’d been missing everyone in his hometown.”

Lloyd, a Cornerstone Christian School graduate, planned to attend college in Ohio, but returned to Columbiana after a year instead. She said with “only three good, solid months of summer” in Ohio, she was ready to come home.

She said she intends to continue her education now that she’s settled in Alabama.

“My plan is to go to Jeff State and do my core classes there,” she said. “After my core classes are done, I’m going to go to UAB for a degree in psychology.”

When the couple returned to Columbiana, Lloyd immediately reclaimed her job at Paw Paw’s Restaurant.

“I worked at Paw Paw’s before I moved, and I kept in touch with them while I was gone. They said I’d have my job back,” she said.

Lloyd said she wasn’t sure if she would return home to Columbiana, but decided the South was the right place for her.

“I really didn’t think we’d come back. I always wanted to, but everything up there is all Union. It just wasn’t working for us,” she said. “I was homesick for the first five months, but slowly got out more and did more stuff. We just decided one day to come back. We’ll probably stick here for awhile.”

Welcome Home features a new or returning resident of Shelby County. If you know of anyone who has recently moved to the county, please contact Christine Boatwright at 669-3131 ext. 16 or christine.boatwright@shelbycountyreporter.com.