When it comes right down to it, you can’t pick the family you’re born to -- no matter how much you have wanted to at times. You do, however, get the sheer luxury of picking a college family. If you choose wisely, those people will turn into the group that guides you through real life and beyond.
One in three Tumblr quotes photoshopped onto a surreal landscape is about finding a home in people rather than a place. Now, I may have made that statistic up, but the message is one I wholeheartedly agree with, especially after spending a couple years away from my family and what I had previously considered my sole “home.”
I was fortunate enough to have one of my best friends by my side as soon as my mom left me at the back door of my dorm three days before the autumn semester of my freshman year. We were quickly joined by a few others, and then the small handful of us proceeded to figure out this whole college thing.
As we all learned how to tread water, we met some of the most genuine, fun people I have ever had the pleasure of stumbling upon. This happy little accident led me to people I could count on.
The obsession with #squad never made sense to me until I established a home away from home in the form of a ton of people I love.
It is the most comforting thing in the world to know that there are a whopping handful of people that I can call at any time of the day at any emotional state and have someone by my side in less than 15 minutes. In fact, I’m lucky enough to live with some of them.
This might sound like the single most corny thing ever, but it is so undeniably important to find a group of people with whom you can share everything, who will be down for almost anything, and who will rent a house and pay bills with you. It is especially important to have people that will answer their phones no-questions-asked if they were the first and only call you had from jail.
Whether you are an incoming freshman or an outgoing senior, I cannot stress enough the importance of finding a genuine, spirited bunch of individuals to get into shenanigans with. They say that you are an amalgamation of the most important people in your life, and I think everyone is drawn to people that they feel will better them and enhance their life experience. These people are the family you choose.
You can find a home in people before you find a home with a set of rooms and a door to lock when you’re away, and that is the single most valuable thing anyone will ever do.
