Growing up, I had always been surrounded by family, both immediate and extended. This was due to the fact that we had lived in the same town for my entire life. We spent holidays together, went over to my grandparents’ house on Sundays, and I basically lived over at my cousin’s house the first ten years of my life. I had taken for granted this family support I had always been blessed with and not even realized it. They say you don’t start to appreciate something until you no longer have it. Leaving my hometown made me realize this to the fullest extent.
Family is truly one of the greatest gifts we are given in life. It is something that you can’t put a dollar value on because it’s priceless. Going to school in a different state, only able to come home a couple times a semester, I’ve come to truly realize this. I no longer am able to constantly see my family. I’m no longer able to keep up with their lives daily. When I’m stressed, I can longer sit down and talk to my mom about it. I no longer have that blanket of security that my family brought me. Although it’s been hard, being forced outside of my comfort zone has made me a better person. It’s made me take more risks and forced me to make my own decisions. I no longer have that ever constant family presence that I’ve had my entire life.
Although moving away from my home and family has been difficult, I’m glad I did it. It would have been easy to take the path more traveled and gone to the school thirty minutes from home. What would that have taught me about branching out and becoming independent, though? Going to a school out of easy driving distance has forced me to do both of these things. The distance from those I care about has made me realize how important they really are to me. And in a way, it’s made us even closer. When I come home for the holidays next month, I’ll appreciate their presence even more as I sit around the living room. When they ask me how school’s been going, I’ll enjoy getting to speak with them about my life again. It’ll be like I never left. In a way, it will almost seem like old times. That’s the great thing about family; despite the distance that might separate us, it will never decrease the love between us. When I come home in a few weeks for Thanksgiving, I can’t wait for them to be greeting me with open arms. I’m already counting down the days.
