Most kids enjoy the freedom they get when they are finally away from home and at college. These new students experience what its like to be on their own. Some students even travel to different states to go to school and have the freedom they desire. However, as time goes on they start to realize that being on their own comes with more responsibility than they thought. So, what about the students who love being at home and are in that different state?

My parents originally lived in Oklahoma through most of my college career. I was able to go home as often as I needed. Until this last year my parents moved back to their home state, California. Now, I am a student who cannot go home as often as I want to. I realize how much i took advantage of being able to go home and now that i am more on my own I learned a few things.

I learned that freedom isn't everything. Sometimes what we need is to make sure we always have the support we need. Our parents do so much for us as we all grow up that we sometimes forget what that entails. Some students who start college call home more frequently because they do not know how to do laundry or do not know what to make for dinner or even breakfast because they got used to just letting the parents do it for them.

We learn to survive on a meal plan when money was never an object because parents provided for us. We learn to get up on our own and to organize our own schedules because mom and dad are not there to remind us and keep track of our schedules, doctors appointments, etc.

I took for granted the ability to go home and now that I can't, it makes me even more grateful for the things my parents have done for me. As college students, we have this newfound freedom, but in the end we will always have our parents to fall back on. Those students like me who do not have family in the state, along with students with parents in the same state, can take some appreciation in the things our parents do for us all.