I spent my freshman year of college roughly six hours and two mountain passes away from my family, my home and my comfort zone, it was an experience, to say the least. The transition from my childhood home to a foreign feeling Pacific Northwest town was monumental.
Until college I had only ever been to the town for track meets, bathroom breaks or a quick carousel ride, I had no idea what I was getting into. This town is full of wild and crazy adventure, beautiful diversity and the best scenery in Montana, it has been great for a year but I am ready to come home.
Living six hours away from my growing siblings has been so much harder than I imagined. Missing games, dances, inside jokes and family dinners was weirder than I could have ever thought possible. I wasn't there to frost Halloween cookies with my cousins or carve pumpkins at my grandma's house, forget birthdays because I have missed every one. Little things such as these I believed I wouldn't miss, as if they weren't absolutely vital to my being, but I have been proved so very wrong.
Going away to college I was so stubborn and pig-headed on leaving. Getting out of that city. Not ever looking back. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I left. I am so thankful I got to learn how badly I needed to hear my parents voices at dinner and how great it is to watch my brother and sister grow up, even if it means losing every pillow fight I get myself into.
Leaving home taught me to be resilient and how to rely on myself, but it also taught me that I am not a huge fan of being far away from the people who make me belly laugh the hardest. I miss the chaos and busyness of my house and the constant feeling that someone (a brother) is stealing your food. I want to travel a visit all corners of the world but I don't want to live too far away from these crazy people ever again.
My freshman year of college has been so fun and filled to the brim with memories and life experience. I have made the coolest friends up here and spent a year with the sweetest roommate I could have wished for. But I do not regret my choice to move home for one minute.
College is so expensive, and when your major (sadly) doesn't include making crazy amounts of money (pay your teachers people!) you have to make a choice that will benefit you in the long run. Living rent-free for a semester will treat my bank account to a healthy recovery, and having the world's greatest support system around me as I move on into my own apartment and continue my education is exactly what I need.
Moving back home after a year away at college does not make me weak. This does not make me less of a student or a person. Moving back home shows me that I am in charge of my own destiny and that I am capable to make decisions that benefit my heart and my mind. I am so ready to come home, because, Mama, I miss you.
