I grew up in a really small town in north central Missouri called Chillicothe. There's next to nothing to do there, really. On a Friday night, if I wasn't at home hanging out by myself or at my best friend's house, we were walking around Wal-Mart looking at things and talking, driving around burning gas or trying to convince some friends of mine twenty minutes away to do a bonfire.
Freshman year, I was looking at colleges in California, Maryland, and Maine--dead-set on going to college out of state, as far away from Chillicothe as possible. Here I am now, an hour and forty minutes from home and I still tear up when I leave home. I honestly miss home, and here's why:
1. I miss my family.
All of my family is back home. My dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, aunts, you name it, they're back home - or at least not here. It's hard to not show up at my aunt's house five minutes after leaving my house.
2. I miss my friend.
Yes, that is supposed to be singular, "friend." When I go home, I have one person I talk to and one person I hang out with. When I'm in school here in Maryville, we hardly ever talk. It sucks - I know I should text her if I want to talk to her, but I just get so busy it's hard to keep in touch. She knows I am always here, though, or at least she should.
3. I miss not having to pay for everything.
At home, if I wanted some ice cream, I could easily grab Dad and say, "Hey, let's go get some ice cream," and we'd sometimes go, and sometimes not. He'd buy my dinner if we'd go out and he'd buy the groceries for one of us to cook.
4. I miss the familiarity.
I miss having a map of my hometown memorized and knowing exactly where I am going three steps ahead of the game - kind of like chess. I still to this day have a map of the Wal-Mart back home ingrained in my memory and can tell you where just about anything is.
5. I miss home.
I miss having a home. I miss having my dad to coming home to because he's my dad. I just miss home.
So, high school seniors, when you're thinking you won't miss home one bit, you may change your mind. That's where I was a year ago, and now I wish I could *gasp* go back to being in high school with fewer responsibilities and more time for just having fun. Man, do I wish I could be home now instead of studying for a test and preparing for the dreaded finals week.
