After long semesters at University spent away from home, it can be easy to crave the comfort of home-cooked food, your childhood room, and the friends and family you grew up with. So when winter or spring breaks finally do come along, the initial days back in your old neighborhood can feel like an intense, much-needed recharging of your mind and body. However, after a while, you can feel stuck in time, transported into your childhood self. All in all, staying at home for a long time after college can become suffocating, especially given the temporary loss of independence and adventure that you've become used to while living in a more unknown environment surrounded by new people and opportunities.
Home
I step through the white portal-door
into a place so familiar it feels
as though I'd never left
The smell of home-cooked food
that made my childhood
returns through my nose
and coats my stomach with memories
I walk up the wooden stairs
I've run up a million times before
into the baby pink room
that was
is
my haven
And I throw myself onto the bed
that knows the mold of my body
better than anyone
Time's spent
meeting old friends and
visiting the restaurants
and ice cream shops
and fields and streets
I grew up in
I feel safe
I feel known
I feel like my time spent away
was just a dream
And maybe it was
maybe this is where I belong
Days pass by
of waking up every morning in
the same warm bed
the same pink room
the same wooden house
the same familiar neighborhood
with the same people
Home is nice
Home is comfort
But home can't be forever
So when I leave
it's bittersweet
and maybe even uncomfortable
but it's worthwhile
because I'm ready
I'm eager
to explore the world
