With the COVID-19 virus rapidly spreading across the world, college students such as myself and others alike have found themselves back home, spending quarantine in an old, familiar place. When you become an adult and leave home, scenarios like this aren't really something you ever considered: being in a situation where you would spend months at a time back n your childhood home again, or at least back in your hometown with your family under one roof like how it was when you were younger.
As much as many people have found this time to be difficult and isolation from the outside world is of course never easy, It's really cool to see how things can go back to how they were before. There is unity and simplicity in the reality of the matters we are facing. I feel like I am back in high, even with the little differences in the reality I am facing.
Something really big I have noticed is the people who have come back into my life. Being home sparked a conversation with so many friends from my childhood and high school years, who live less than five minutes away but I haven't talked to in five years. It's beautiful to see how it's like you never left, going back to talking about the good times and finding out all the things people have done with their lives since. Slowly, and then like a flood, I found myself talking to old friends again and reminiscing, as well as talking about how crazy all of this is.
I see the way my family has gone back to how it was, too. My parents separated shortly before I left for college, so that was a big difference from my high school years. But sitting at my old desk at my dad's house doing my homework, and watching my mom burn garlic bread again like she did almost every time she cooked it growing up has put me back in a happy place. I never realized how comforting it would be to me to step out of the craziness of the life I have at college and step back into my life at home, which in some ways hasn't changed one bit.
Through some of my experiences over the last few weeks, I have realized a lot of the world is going through the same thing. People in their 20s heading home from high-rise apartments and big jobs in the city to be with their family. It is truly a weird time for our generation, there is no denying that, but can harbor some simple joys as well. Being back home, back to the places we have known most of our lives, can feel so nostalgic. This time is uncharted in your world, but even though we see roots as things that keep us grounded, it's amazing to see the way being back to them again can help us grow.
