A quote I love from my favorite television show, "Once Upon a Time", says, “[That’s] how you know you have a home. When you leave it there’s this feeling you can’t shake. You just miss it.” I think it’s pretty true. I love going home - what college student doesn’t? You get to sleep in your own bed, you don’t have to wear flip flops in the shower, you can eat home-cooked meals, you get to see your old friends…it’s awesome. But then when you’re home for a few days, you start to get tired of it - you miss your school friends, your parents tell you what to do, et cetera. Then, when you get back to school, you miss home again…it’s a vicious cycle.
I’m not the kind of person who’s homesick all the time when I’m away. My mom tells a story about when I was about six or seven and went skiing in Utah for a week with my grandpa and cousins. She would get a little mad at my grandpa because whenever I called my parents, I would always be fine at first and then start crying when it was time to hang up the phone and I would get homesick afterward. That’s still true - I get excited to go home, enjoy my time visiting and relaxing, and then I'm ready to go back, but I cry before I leave. I started crying right as I was hugging my mom goodbye yesterday, and when I hugged my dad after he dropped me off last night. (To put the variance of my emotions into context, I was very excited to be going back to school before I hugged my mom goodbye, and I was laughing and joking with my dad before I said goodbye to him). What's worse is that I never get homesick until I take a break from my busy life to think about how I miss home. I get sad after I FaceTime, call, or text my family, so sometimes I hesitate to call or FaceTime them because I don't want to get upset and sad, even though I should call them more often. Not sure how to deal with that one.
I suppose, like in the "Once Upon a Time" quote, you know you have a real home if you get homesick every now and again. It means I’m lucky - I have a great family that loves me who will always be there to love and support me. Missing them reminds me just how wonderful they are.