The first thing you think of as you begin to apply for college is all the babes and booze. "Wow, this is going to be such a crazy experience and I'm finally becoming a man." As time gets closer and the deadlines start approaching for FAFSA, scholarships, applications, and the other assortments of information needed to continue your education, you realize something profound.
You're leaving.
Suddenly, there is this pit in your stomach, and no matter how much you've looked forward to this day, here you are: five days away from your new life.
I'm terrified.
As the time gets closer and closer, I begin to cling harder and harder to my home -- my real home. All the memories of this house flood my consciousness like an immense ocean. I find myself drowning in the thoughts of when I got my first dog, how excited I was that we could finally own one. The day my sisters were born, knowing that it was my job to protect them. Sharing a kiss with that special someone on my couch; then, on the same couch, crying when it didn't work out. Hours of Netflix that left me exhausted and zombified the following day. All the routes I ran as my dad threw the football to me. Fastball after fastball that hit the back of my dad's mitt in the front yard.
All these memories have a single thing in common: the location of where they all took place. It's the place I call home. It's also the place I am leaving.
Am I excited for this new transition? Honestly, no, I am not. I know that this is a part of life, and I must leave and create my own. However, nothing can prepare me for the departure from my home and loved ones to this great big world that I have been destined to conquer. I lean on the Lord for understanding and pray He will take the burdens from my heart. I know that in time I will have a new home, where I will make new memories. I will have new brothers and sisters, and will definitely still watch too much Netflix.
Even with all of that said, I still will not forget the moments I shared in the little two-story house on Third Avenue.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. " Jeremiah 29:11.
