Anyone who knows me knows that my mom is my absolute best friend and I tell her everything. When it was time to start applying to colleges we both silently knew there was no way I was staying in Connecticut. We even went on a road trip to visit five different schools between Virginia and South Carolina, deciding which one we both liked best.

Making the final decision to go to the University of Maine was the best but hardest decision I could have made that year.

I decided in April that I was attending the University of Maine and had until August to figure out how exactly I was going to handle living seven hours away from my best friend. We never really talked about how we were going to cope with being away from each other but rather learned to live with it. Now I have finished my third year here in Maine and we are starting this process all over again.

This past week I drove home to Connecticut for 4 days. This trip was designed to see my best friend and celebrate my 21st birthday. As this is the first year that I have had my own car in Maine I have only made a few short trips home to visit my mom. But this one was by far the “shortest” and the hardest to leave because...

I hate having to call her when something happens…

No matter what happens in my life whether it be I fail a test or I see the cutest dog ever or I got a compliment at work the first person I go to tell is my mom. And talking on the phone is not my favorite thing to do at all and generally, I have too much to say (if you know me you know I can talk) to text it all out.

So instead of getting home and sitting at the table or jumping on the couch to watch television and talk, I have to call her. And if I wait until the end of the day to tell her everything that happened, I forget half of it. So I call her multiples times a day (sometimes over three times) just to tell her about my life and I have to hope she is not busy and answers.

I can never remember her work schedule anymore…

I know that my mom works every other weekend, and then has an alternating during the weekly schedule. When I am home, I can tell you exactly what days she has to work for the next two weeks just off the top of my head. When at school, it all blends together. Did she work last weekend? Does she work today? No clue. I never know if she’s busy.

She is a much better cook than I am…

Okay, so I know that everyone is like “my mom is such a good cook” and all that but my mom is amazing. Anyone who knows me knows that I am literally such a picky, complicated eater. And my mom always finds a way to make dinner work for the both of us without being super complicated.

My favorite example of this is my mom cooks a mean burger like it is so good and I don’t eat just like any burger that is put in front of me. And one would think I know how I like a burger and I have a great cook for a mom I can definitely do it. Nope. Not at all. I cannot cook a burger to save my life.

So I am constantly calling my mom asking her the best way to cook whatever I am craving that night.

I miss hanging out with her…

My house is just my mom and myself. We do everything together even just go to the grocery store when it will be like a 20-minute trip. We plan an awesome vacation to go on every year. We talk all the time. We watch the same shows. We go shopping, we gossip, we complain, we rant, we listen to music, we sing, we dance, we do it all together.

Now I am in college and I go to the store by myself, I watch television by myself, and I sing and dance by myself (I do have friends but in the summer, they’re not in Orono). Mom plans the vacation and I am meeting her there. We talk every day but it's not the same.

Not only do I miss doing things with her, I miss her…

My mom has the biggest heart, she does everything for me. She always makes me laugh and smile even when I am cranky. She makes fun of me in the best way. She would do anything for me any day. She supports me even when I am dumb. She lets me crawl into her bed and rant or gossip or even just watch TV. She paints my toenails because lord knows I cannot do it.

And most importantly she gives the absolute best hugs ever.

While leaving at the end of these trips is terribly hard, I know it is only making our bond stronger and the next visit more special.