While being in college, it is extremely normal to become homesick. Although my immediate family lives only about 35 minutes away from my college, I have been finding myself as of late missing another place I call home. That place is Wilmington, Delaware. Wilmington, Delaware is about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia and is where I spent the first 15 years of my life. A little less than six years ago I moved to Ohio, not knowing anyone except my parents and my sister. It was a tough transition for me leaving all my friends, family, and a place that I had known my whole life. Literally my whole extended family lives back there and it is tough to only see them about two times a year.
So how I have learned to deal with missing Delaware? First, I think there will never be a time where I do not miss it. It is more so how I deal with missing it. One thing that has always helped me is trying to keep in contact with all my family and friends back there. It can be especially tough at times being busy at college, but I always try to make time for those people during the week or even on the weekends. Talking to them helps me remember all the good times with them and keeps us updated on what is going on in each other's lives. It also helps me feel much better after knowing they are just a phone call away.
Another thing that I do to help me when I am missing home is looking forward to the time that I do get return and see everyone. As I discussed earlier, I only get to go to Delaware about two times a year, three if I am lucky. The two times that my family goes is during Christmas and then also Father's Day weekend in June. Every year since I was born, I go with my whole mom's side of the family to a beach trip in New Jersey for about four days. Growing up, it was an event I also looked forward to, even though I only lived about five minutes from my relatives and was able to see them just about whenever. Now obviously I look forward to it even more. It is always a nice time to see my family that I have not seen in six months and unwind from everyday life. Also when I am back, I get to reunited with some of my oldest friends who I have not seen in awhile either. It is always good to be able to reconnect with them instead of just talking on the phone.
All in all, do I sometimes wish I never moved away from Delaware? Yes and no. I know that it sucks not being as close to my family and where I grew up, but I also realize that if I never moved to Ohio, I would have missed out on so many opportunities. I also would not have met people that I have become great friends with in Ohio as well. I am lucky that there is technology and I am able to keep in contact with everyone. At the same time, nothing is quite like the real thing of being there.
