The summer before I left for college had me in a state of mixed emotions: scared, nervous, worried. But above all else, I was excited. Excited because for the first time in my life, I would be able to live on my own without my parents telling me what to do or my brother annoying me every chance that he got. Excited because I wouldn't have to deal with the stress of my home life, and I could get away from all the chaos for a little bit. What I failed to realize at the time, though, was just how much I would miss that so-called "chaos."

From the beginning of college though, I never really felt homesick. Sure, I missed my family, but I didn't really want to go back home. I enjoyed being at college with all of the new friends that I had made. It was fun and exciting. It pushed me to go out of my comfort zone and made me more responsible. But, it also made me realize just how grateful I should be for the people that I grew up with.

I began to miss all of my brother's antics, the same ones that were annoying me the summer before I came to school. I missed watching TV at night with my dad and going shopping with my mom on the weekends. I missed my dog sleeping in my bed every night, even though sometimes she took up too much space for such a little dog.

While I still loved being at school, being away made me more appreciative of everything that I had taken for granted before. I began to realize just how much my family understood me and how lucky I was to be so close to them. I quickly found out that my close relationship with my family, especially my relationship with my brother, was pretty uncommon. A lot of my friends don't joke around with their siblings or talk to them on FaceTime when they aren't home. They don't have the same type of tight-knit relationship that my brother and I have had since we were young.

Seeing how distant some of my friends are with their families has made me so grateful that my family and I are so close. I honestly don't know what I would do if I had a strained relationship with my parents or if my brother and I fought constantly. My life would be so much different if I didn't have them to turn to, and I'm so glad that being four hours from home for school has made me more appreciative of my family instead of making me happy to be away from them.