As I began to wrap up the end of my sophomore year at college I began to panic. Not because of finals or because of an unsure housing situation for the next fall semester. I had never encountered a less stressful finals week or been more excited to live with the girls I am going to share an apartment with starting in August�. I was panicking because in two short years I would be living on my own. The more I thought about the situation I would be encountering in, I only had 730 days, and I wanted to fast forward my life to get this scary portion over with. That is how I came to decide that I would not be moving back to the town that raised me the summer before my junior year.
I told my parents and friends from home that I would not be returning due to numerous jobs held in the town that I go to college in (which is true) but it was more of a way to test myself. See how I could handle an entire year of only staying at home for no more than two days at a time (which will be completed on August 7). Through many tears and bouts of homesickness I learned that I don't miss my house, I miss my town. Don't get me wrong, I miss my parents, sister, grandparents, aunts and uncles but I know I will see them again, and anytime I want to. What I miss is living in my hometown.
Growing up in a small town you hear people complain all the time about how terrible it is. How closed-minded and how boring it is. But I loved my hometown. They were welcoming and open, and although Walmart runs were reserved as the Friday night hangout, my friends and I always had fun. It wasn't until I moved away from my hometown that I began to seriously appreciate bike rides to the library with my sister as we carried (not kidding) 60 books home to devour. I now look back at the nights my friends and I spent eating McFlurries at McDonalds and complaining about having nothing to do with fondness because I was still surrounded by people I loved. I see my high school as a place that allowed students to grow because it was small enough to have students involved in every organization and sport, even though many of my classmates would probably disagree.
I don't regret my decision to spend the school-year and summer in my college town, but I do sometimes wish I was lounging by my hometown pool or spending the day at lake with my Core Four gals. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. I don't know if that's true with relationships but it was definitely true for the relationship between my hometown and myself.
