Moving away from home was a dreaded adjustment. Throughout my entire life, I have always been close to my parents, grandparents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and, of course, my dogs. When living at home, I spent the majority of my time with family, often doing things as simple as watching a movie on the couch and commenting on which actors we liked and which we loathed.
Many days were filled with bickering, more often than not over little things such as leaving my bedroom door open after exiting, or calling my name and not telling me what you wanted until I rolled out of bed and slowly made my way to wherever you were. But now that I'm away from home, I miss that bickering. I want that bickering back in my life.
Mom and Dad, I miss you. I miss hearing your voice while you have work calls. I miss hearing you yell at me to hang up my jacket, make my bed, or clean off the table (even though you have two other children perfectly capable of doing this). I miss waking up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to the loud volume of the movies you are watching.
A few weeks after moving into school, I felt very alone. The separation from home life was hitting me hard and I needed a distraction. I decided to begin walking for an hour each day in hopes of relieving stress and anxiety. What I didn't realize was that my daily walks would become the highlight of my day.
Walking is pretty boring when you are listening to the same songs on repeat every day. I needed to find a distraction that would make my brain stop thinking about how boring my walks were. The distraction I found was calling my family.
Hearing my mom, grandma, and grandpa's voices brighten up my mood instantly. On some days, we talk about important things, other days. we talk about things as simple as what we ate for dinner. Either way, just hearing their voices is comforting and makes me feel like I'm not alone. It makes me feel like they are with me on this journey.
Being away from home makes the reunions with loved ones much more heartfelt and exciting. I always find myself counting down the days to the next time I get to go home for the weekend. There's nothing better than hearing familiar, comforting sounds like the pitter-patter of your dogs' paws on the hardwood floor as they run towards you to greet you with a hug (or in my usual cases, run right past me and completely ignore the love I have for them).
Being away from home is hard. Not being with family can be depressing, especially on the days where I feel completely alone. Being away from the love and support that I've taken for granted for all of those years absolutely sucks. I'm sorry I don't say this enough, but Mom and Dad, Nonna and Poppy, (and Oreo and Isabella, the best friends and dogs I could ever ask for) I miss you and love you!
