When you come home from college for Christmas break, one of two things happen. Most people say that things have changed. You feel older, you don't fit in as well with your old friends, and all you want to do is go back to school and see you roommates. People might say that they want to return to school so that they can do whatever they want again and not worry about their parents waiting up for them. But this isn't true for everyone.
I found myself seamlessly fitting right back into my old life as if nothing had changed. My bed felt normal and the same Christmas decorations were hung throughout my house. Driving in my car and listening to music brought me the same joy. The people who I worked with over the summer were still there and putting in long hours. The best part was that despite the physical distance that college put between my friends and me, it did not create relational distance between any of my friends from high school. When we were all united again, some of us for the first time in months, we hugged and dove into the conversation that would have made anyone listening think that we had sat down to lunch together the day before. We all sat in restaurants and laughed on car rides and reminisced of funny memories from years past. We awed at the fact that kids in our graduating class were already engaged or married (that really does happen, I promise), and wondered who would be the next couple to post a proposal on Facebook. The only difference between us now was that we all had our own stories to share of crazy professors, all-nighters, and college kids walking to class with blankets wrapped around themselves instead of coats.
The truth is, not much changed when I left. My town is still small and everyone still runs into someone they know at Walmart. My two cats still love sitting next to the fireplace and central Illinois still has the most unexpected weather imaginable. Thanksgiving passes, leaving me with a full belly and a long list of Christmas gifts to shop for. Christmas cookies are baked and eaten until I don’t know if I can look at another. The same great holiday movies play on TV and I always end up finding my favorites. The snow still looks beautiful as I watch it fall from my bedroom window, and nothing really compares to the way it sparkles the next morning.
All the long assignments, stressful study sessions, and midnight cramming melted away when I came home. I felt like I had never left. I suppose that’s what home is supposed to feel like.
