When most of us leave home for the first time we are off to college in another state, another city, or at least far enough away from home where we get our own place and try and take on the world for the first time. Going into my junior year of college, I've had many mixed emotions on this topic. Freshman year I barely missed home at all. I was so wrapped up in school, athletics, and all of my new friends that it was not all that uncommon for me to go a couple days without talking to my family which I had been super close with before I left. My life turned into an endless roller coaster of spontaneous trips to the river with my roommates and late night study sessions to cram for tests. This is how my entire first year was. Always busy, always stressed, and never enough time to call home as much as I should.
Sophomore year was different. It started off the same, long weekends with friends and even longer study sessions. But half way through the year something changed. Maybe it was because I was living in a house and not in the dorms anymore that pulled me away from all the excitement or maybe it was the lack of excitement that made me think about home more. I started to think more about my mom whenever I had something interesting happen in my life and wanted to tell her first instead of my friends. This continued through the rest of the year and I started to get more and more homesick. By the end of the year I finally realized just how hard it is to leave home.
You leave everything behind. Everything you've ever known, all the people you've ever cared for, and all the memories you've ever made. You leave the people you care about the most to pursue a higher education and follow your dreams. Sometimes you have to wonder if it's worth it. But the answer will always be evident when you realize that you can pick up your phone and call your mom or go hug a friend whenever you are feeling down. It's a beautiful thing to know that you are surrounded by people who love you whether it's at home or at school and having that love makes missing home a little easier to bear. Leaving home is hard but its doable.
