I hear my roommate and friends often talk about their parents and their family situations. "Should I feel bad I don't call my family?" I used ask myself this question ALL the time.

Family is one of those things that's at the top of my list, but when I came to college I feel like my perspective changed on family. It was like I didn't need them to hold my hand anymore. The time for me to do things on my own had come and while it was hard to accept I have done just that. I love my family and no one can protest anything different to that. Every time we meet or I do get the opportunity to go home we pick up where we left off like nothing's happened or changed. I don't talk to them because we aren't close, not because I don't love them, or not because I don't care. I just believe I'm trying to find my place in the world and that's something I have to do on my own. I came to college scared and honestly frightened at the fact that I wouldn't have them around anymore. My mom wouldn't be there for me to talk to on a daily basis, and dad wouldn't be there to teach me about anything and everything like the usual. When they dropped me off they told me they weren't going to call me for the first week and that I couldn't go home for the first two months. I'm glad that they did this because the truth of the matter is it helped me grow and realize as my own being that I'm on my own and I have to get stuff done on my own watch now. Now almost through my first semester at college, I've grown in so many ways and it's a nice transition from high school to college. I've never felt so independent and driven to do what I want to do. I see something that I want and I'm able to go after it. My family supports me in every way possible and I support them as well in all their endeavors. With all the miles that separate us we are still connected. When they need it most I'm their for them as they would be for me.

"As we get older we find out that true happiness is not how much you make or how many degrees you have or how fancy our things are. It's finding peace and a calmness in our lives that'll become the most important thing to us. Family is what matters to us, love is what matters to us. Things f quality not quantity." - unknown