This summer is the last summer before I finally go away to a four-year school. I graduated high school in 2014 and attended community college for two years. Now I finally get to leave. I get to finally experience what college is really like. How people my age live off of pizza deliveries and ramen noodles that make them miss their mom's cooking. I want to get to miss my mom's food. While I choose not to live in a dorm as a junior (goodbye, transfer 10), I will be living a completely different experience in the fall. I will live on my own.

When I got the letter that said I was accepted into Northern Illinois University, I was so happy, I couldn't shut up about it. My poor friends let me tell them over and over again how excited I was to go away. The scholarships followed and, again, I was annoyingly happy. The moment I signed the lease, that's when reality hit. For 19 years, going to school just meant leaving the house for a few hours and then coming back. It won't mean that anymore.

Now it will mean I will be living an hour and a half away from my family, alone. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not nervous. I am incredibly nervous, a little freaked out, to say the least. My mom was always the one taking care of me and cooking my meals. Not anymore. I'll have to hope I can cook something edible and not burn down the house (sorry roomies). My dad was always there for support; I'm his little girl. Now his little girl is going to be living by herself nearly 100 miles away. This last summer before going away will help me with all of that and more. This is the summer I'll be shopping for my apartment. This is the summer I'll be working as much as possible to save money for the upcoming semester. This is the summer that will change me.

These next few months will be cherished greatly. I'll learn to cook with my mom and change a tire with my dad. I'll bicker with my little brothers, and I'll laugh with them too. Everybody is so eager to go away, but I'm a little scared. I won't be able to go down the hall and hang out with my mom before class. I won't be able to ask my dad to go get an iced coffee with me whenever we both get a craving. I won't be able to have a midnight snack with my brother. Oh, I'll miss my brothers so much. What I will do this summer is create memories of my family, my crazy and beautiful family. I'm going to miss them so much when I finally leave, but it makes me feel a little better because I have something worth missing.