Leaving home for the first time is never easy. A change of scenery, pace and zip code can not be quickly adapted to.
As high school friends begin packing up and moving out of the houses that have been home for so long, some have been able to transition with much more ease than others. Each follows their given timeline, and deadline, presented by their ominous universities. Though I'll be the last to leave for school among the people I know, I feel no jealousy for those making seemingly effortless exits.
For those that have grown up with a close family, there is an understanding that leaving your parents and siblings will be the hardest transition of all. Leaving a place of complete security and honesty is a frightening thing. I know I'm leaving a rare and precious environment. I always had someone close when I needed some reliance, a bit of happiness, or simple comfort in being around the people I knew so well. The very foundation of routine, habits and companionship has been uprooted and thrown out of constant access.
Sundays will no longer consist of the country sunshine filtering through the curtains of my childhood bedroom. I won't wake up to the sound of Mom's selective cooking and Dad pouring his black coffee. I'll grudgingly leave family movie nights. Though my opinion was generally overpowered on those nights, it stings knowing I will be unable to give an opinion at all anymore. I'll have to call my mom to vent after a long day, or to discuss our favorite TV shows that we won't be watching together anymore. I won't be the one to greet my dad at the door after his business trips, or drop off his suits at the laundromat. Family dinners will become even fewer and farther between than they seem to be. Having wedged their way into busy summer schedules, the next group entrée will struggle to diminish my newly found distance. I can no longer attend the Saturday fall baseball games. Though I must have attended hundreds of games in my lifetime, it pains me that I won't be at a few more this year. My little brother might not be so little next time I see him, at the rate he's been growing lately. All of the smaller things I value so highly seem so out of reach.
I'm sure I'll be home in a few weeks. There are millions of students exactly my age leaving home for the first time. However, when your family has been your strongest support, your nearest lifeline, and your closest company through all the changes of growing up, leaving home puts change in an entirely different perspective. They say home is where the heart is, but it's also where the most important people in my heart are. All these years my family has meant everything to me. I take pride in admitting that we all have a tight bond. Though I won't be lucky enough to have a seamless transition this fall, I know I'm lucky enough to have a close and loving family.
