Officially gone again and saying goodbye did not get much easier. If anything it was even more difficult. It's never fun in the final few minutes with your dogs, family, and trusty old home but sometimes, you just got to go. Trip after trip, leaving home will never be easy and these three things are what leave you missing it when you're gone.
Pets
The company of an animal, anyone that you call your own, is a presence that makes you feel most at home. Sitting on the couch, laying on the floor, going on walks etc, etc, you do it all with your beloved pet. You find their cuteness to be overwhelming and look forward to their excitement whenever they first see you in the morning. So leaving your companion, your cuddle buddy, your BFF is one of the most gut-wrenching goodbyes. And to make it even worse, they act one of two ways; first, they may act depressed at the first sight of you packing or second they look like they have no clue what's going on and expect that you'll just be back later. Either scenario is equally tear-worthy. Leaving home means leaving pets, and your creatures end up being the little fellows you miss a whole lot.
Friends
While it isn't easy to say leave good old hometown friends, it's a little bit different. You've just had so much fun together on whatever break or time you've been at home or in a new place and all of a sudden time just runs out. You end up being really excited for each other because it's cool to see where people who have been together for sometime end up branching out to. But all the while the high-octane fun with people you've gotten to know so well has to cease for awhile. And the part that makes this suck is when you come back home and remember how good it is to be around each other. It's a mix between being happy for new beginnings and really going to miss the good times.
Family
There is no over-arching way to describe how everyone says goodbye to parents, siblings, and relatives. All that can be said of it is that it is sad and the single most dreaded moment for both parties. You spend time together, support each other, bounce off personalities, and share in so, so much. It's the worst relationship to have long distance because some of the biggest parts of what makes families tight-knit are being with and around each other more than they're alone. Without a doubt family is the hardest goodbye and the ones you hang on to every single day after leaving home.
Cut and dry, leaving home stinks. In the time you're home, it almost feels like a constant countdown until you have to pack all up again and head out. You'll never have enough time at home, but of course, you can always go back. Goodbyes get even harder when you remember the times when you just wanted to get the heck out of town. It leaves a little sting of regret like you didn't take it all in as long as you would've liked. On a whole other note, as sad as it can be to be all packed up in your car looking out the rearview mirror as you drive off, a part of you knows that you are so excited. That's almost what makes it even harder really; trying to balance the feelings and knowing when to express which. With your ahead destination all plugged into your GPS, sure it's upsetting to see how many miles you will physically be from home but to think about what's ahead is all the while enough to clear your tears and get you going down the road.
We don't like goodbyes and we sure don't like thinking about the last hugs together. But we all leave home sometime in our life and that goodbye just makes you look forward to the next time you get to come back. Cherish the time you have wherever you may be and the people all around you, because home really does have our hearts.
