As you finished your last finals, you were struck with the realization that you will be home for four months. After the panic of packing and studying passes, you move all of your belongings back home. Some things are the same, some are different and you come to these realizations.
1. Where is my stuff?
Everything from your dorm room is packed in boxes. You spend days traveling to those boxes to pick out an outfit, locate a charger or choose a pair of shoes.
2. What am I doing with my life?
After the overabundance of stress you felt throughout the final weeks of the semester, you feel relaxed—almost too relaxed. You sit around, eat too much food and watch way too much Netflix. These lazy days begin to make you wonder what you are doing with your life.
3. I miss my friends.
You've made great friends in school. As everyone returns home, everyone is scattered across the state. Seeing them over the summer is going to be a difficult task and the realization of this makes you sad.
4. I should get a job.
Your boredom becomes too much and college debt is looming over you, so a job is your only solution.
5. Wow, I have great friends.
Your home friends begin to return home too. You spend a few days catching up and remember how great they are. Reliving old memories and creating new ones helps heal some of the sadness you feel from missing your college friends.
6. I have parents and they have rules.
While living at college, you have become accustomed to creating your own schedule. Now that you are home, you have to remember to text your parents when you are going somewhere and you have to clean on a schedule.
7. When did I acquire all of this stuff?
As you begin to organize all of the belongings you brought home, you begin to wonder how you accumulated so much. You swear you didn't have this much when you moved in. Now you have to find a place for everything.
8. My mom's food has never tasted so good.
The first bite of your mom's homemade food is pure relief. You never realized how much you appreciated it until it was gone.
9. Dogs are amazing.
You missed having your dogs with you all of the time. Waking up to dogs everyday makes you feel like a whole person again.
10. When did this get here?
While you were gone, your family bought new decorations or moved furniture. As you walk through the house, you are constantly thinking, "When did this get here?"
11. I'm happy to be home.
Soon, it begins to feel like you never left home. You pick up where you left off with your friends and family. You begin participating in your old daily routine. You really did miss home.
