I miss my mom's laugh.

I miss eating Bar-B-Q with my dad.

I miss jamming out to music with my sister.

I miss the familiar street signs and my favorite Mexican restaurant.

I miss homemade meals and family dinners around the farm table.

I miss watching football games on Sunday afternoons with my dad while everyone else is napping.

I miss the kids I used to babysit.

I miss my dog!

I miss seeing familiar faces who have walked through life with me - awkward stages and all.

Basically, I just really miss home.

But, as I write these sentences a smile is on my face. I'm thankful for missing home because it means that it's worth missing. At least I have a family I can't wait to see at Thanksgiving. At least I have a home with my dog and the unique smell of my family that being away at school I have come to treasure. At least I have friends from high school who I still keep in touch with and count down the days until our synchronized breaks. At least I have a home worth leaving school for at the end of the semester.

In college, I've come to realize this isn't the case for many people. Not everyone looks forward to going home on breaks because their home life isn't ideal. They dread the weeks of Christmas Break and count down the days until they can return to school. College had become their new home because it was filled with people who genuinely cared for them, loved them, and acted as family. They are sick of home.

I have never known this feeling and probably never will, which puts everything into perspective: I'm so blessed. While being homesick isn't the best feeling in the world, it's better than most. It's better than dreading FaceTime calls from family or long, lonely days stuck at home. Instead, I can cherish the hour long phone calls with my sister and random texts throughout the week with my mom. I'm blessed to have a family and home that have loved me so well that I miss it. Not many can say this, which is why I am truly thankful for the days I long to hug my dad or watch the sunset with my friends at our favorite spot.

Being homesick is hard. It hits at random times when some small thing triggers nostalgia. It can last for only a few moments or it can last a week. It makes you feel discontent with being at school and makes you consider transferring home for a brief second. It forces you to look at your calendar and count down the days for when the word "Home!" is written in the boxes.

Yeah, being homesick is tough but I'd rather be homesick than sick of home any day.

At least I have a home worth missing.