1. Doing Laundry and Changing Sheets
You don’t realize how much doing laundry and changing your sheets really sucks until you get to college and have to do it. Instead of throwing something you wear once in the laundry, you end up wearing something until it becomes too gross to wear again, and then it goes in the laundry. You procrastinate on doing laundry until the last possible second. When you’re home, even if you do your own laundry, there’s nothing like the smell of that familiar detergent and the easily accessible washing machine. There are no lines and you don’t have to wait for an open washing machine to clean your clothes and sheets. Home is where there are always clean sheets and perfectly folded laundry. And let me tell you, changing your sheets on a dorm bed, especially a lofted one, can be really difficult.
2. Grocery Shopping
Maybe it’s just me, but even if I make a list, I always get home from the grocery store realizing that I forgot at least one thing. But that never seems to happen at home. My parents never forget to buy Ziploc bags or paper towels. And even if they do forget to buy them, we have extras stashed in the garage. At first, grocery shopping by myself felt liberating – I was the one choosing the food I wanted to eat. But after a while, it became pretty annoying. Not to mention that it took a toll on my bank account. At home, my parents would go grocery shopping for the whole family. But now I'm always finding myself standing in the dairy aisle for 10 minutes trying to figure out what yogurt to get.
3. Access to a Car
Walking everywhere is normal in college but naturally that limits your range of places to go (unless you make the brave choice to take a bus). When you’re home, you have access to a car, which means you can go anywhere and everywhere. Having access to a car expands your freedom, and because you may not have a car at school, that means that when you’re home you may even be willing to do those extra errands your parents ask you to do. Ex: picking up your sister at her friends house or dropping off the dry cleaning.
4. Home Cooked Meals
I used to complain about my parents making the same meals every week when I was in high school. Now, all I want is my mom to be cooking “Taco Tuesday” and my dad firing up the grill and making steak. After eating in the dining hall for a whole year, you come to appreciate food – especially home cooked meals. It’s nice to know exactly what meat you’re eating and not to have pizza as an option at every meal (even breakfast if you wake up late enough, which you probably do). Suddenly, nothing tastes better than the food that’s being served on the plate you decorated when you were six years old, especially when you know it was made with love.
5. Their Accessible Wisdom
If I ever need my parent’s advice (which I do, a lot) at school it can sometimes get difficult to contact them. For me, my parents and I are in different time zones and they work during the day. Often, times that are convenient for me are not convenient for my parents and vice versa so it's hard to connect, which is frustrating. But at home, you’re pretty much surrounded by your parents all the time so you can ask them whatever you need. Their expertise is always accessible. You can ask them how to respond to that email your boss sent you over dinner and they can offer you guidance when that outfit really doesn’t look professional (even though you totally thought it did). It doesn’t matter what you need, at home your parents are there to give it to you.
6. Paying for Food
This one’s obvious, but SO important. One of the best parts about being home is that your parents pay for food. This means that you can go to nice restaurants and order not only an entrée, but an appetizer and maybe even a dessert if you’re really feeling it! The best part is that your parents are so happy that you are home that they want you to order whatever you want and are more than happy to pay for it! It doesn’t matter where you are, whether it’s lunch, popcorn at the movies, or ice cream after dinner, your parents pay when you’re with them and it’s awesome. This is probably one of the #1 luxuries that is missed while at school.
7. Their Constant Nagging
Okay, hear me out on this one. I know that sometimes it can be annoying and seem overbearing when your parents nag on you. But, it’s also kind of nice to have some direction. For example, at school I could literally sleep all day with no one telling me to get out of bed. At home, when my parents wake me up and tell me to start my day, even though in that moment I may resent them, I know that it really is better for me to get up. Also, sometimes (most of the time) parents really do know best. So as much as I love all of the freedom I have at college, it’s nice to have someone pushing you a bit to improve yourself. Like eating healthy or exercising, or maybe not staying out too late when you have work the next morning. The nagging is just their way of telling us they care, and it’s nice to feel cared about.
8. Their Love
It doesn’t matter how old you are, sometimes everyone just needs a hug from their parents. There are times at school when I know that a hug from my parents would really make everything better, but alas, they aren't there to give one to me. Before leaving for college, I didn’t realize how much I would miss their constant love and support. Of course, they still give me that when I’m away at school, and all of my mother’s “love you + a billion emoji” texts are really nice, but nothing is as good as physically being in the presence of your parents warmth. Now, as oppose to high school, I don’t kick my parent’s out of my room when they come in and sit at the edge of my bed asking me about my day, and I always, always return the “love you's” when they say goodnight to me.
I guess it’s true; sometimes you have to leave home to really appreciate what you already have. Thank you parents, for everything!
