College is always a frightening possibility, one that's always thoroughly considered. You know you want it and that, as afraid of leaving home as you are, nothing is going to stop you from going and experiencing life for yourself. Even though you no longer have your family by your side every step of the way, they are still cheering you on from the sidelines. They make sure you have food and that you aren’t dead with textbooks piled on top of you. You may not be able to run to them when you’re feeling stressed, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a phone call and a conversation away. And they will always tell you what you need to hear; it may not be what you want to hear in the moment, but you know they are the only ones who can be blunt enough to make you listen.

You can call your family anytime you see fit, whether you’re mad at your roommates, or happy about a grade you got, or stressed because you have three tests coming up and the only thing you can do is freak out. When you move back to school each year, you’re always happy to have your own space away from your family because that’s how you learn to grow as an individual. But, there is nothing wrong when it’s only been a week or two since you’ve last seen or talked to your family and you already miss them. You realize that not seeing them every day makes the times you do see them even more special. Maybe it’s been two days since you last talked to your sister, but that doesn’t change the fact that when you see her, every time you see her, you run up and hug each other like you haven’t been with one another for years.

And, if you go home for a weekend, you realize that a weekend is just the right amount of time with your family you need until next time because, once you walk through your front door, it’s like you never left, really. Unless you go up to your room and see a pile of clothes in it that aren’t yours and you have to wait until your sister cleans them off to flop down on top of it again. Either way, when you leave on Sunday to head back to your home away from home, you have had more than enough family time and look forward to having your personal space again. But, you end up texting your sister and mom again to see what they’re up to even though it’s only been a couple of hours. You know for the time being, though, that you’re where you need to be, and they’re still cheering from where they do best: home.