The relationship between college students and "home" is a tricky one.
Many college students leave home and never look back. Never feeling like they belonged in their communities, college was the breath of fresh air that they had been waiting 18 years for.
Some leave home and create an entirely new life in their college town. They don't really miss home, yet they keep their ties because that is where mommy and daddy's credit card resides.
Then, there are those of us who cannot detach ourselves from home. We talk about home too much and tell too many stories about our small towns. Our peers call us "lame" for actually enjoying a summer break at home, but I prefer the term "home-body."
Here are the tell-tale signs that you're spending your summer as a home-body:
1. You could barely make it through finals without dreaming of driving down a back road with the windows down.
2. You realize that is a clear difference between coming home on weekends and being home for an entire summer. Not having "I have homework" anxiety is a beautiful thing.
3. Just the smell of rain, manure, and freshly-cut hay triggers nostalgia in your heart.
4. You know that if the county fair were a candle, it would smell like a mixture of funnel cakes, diesel fuel, and livestock.
5. You complain about the rednecks at the county fair, but you end up going anyway just to talk to people.
6. You enjoy going to the beach on vacation, but you look forward to sleeping in your own bed at the end of the trip.
7. No matter how monotonous your small church is, you go anyway.
8. Sunday dinner at Grandma's is a given.
9. Fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and corn again? Okay...
10. You find yourself suddenly preferring to spend time with your family.
11. Your parents laugh at all of your jokes, hug you more than usual, and brag on social media about you being home (aka you realize that they really do love you and you bask in the glory.)
12. Summer doesn't feel official until the first harvest of vegetables from the garden.
13. The few times that you've hung out with friends, they've been the same four people.
14. You've said, "my clothes smell like a bonfire" numerous times.
15. But you couldn't care because you love the smell of a bonfire.
16. The Fourth of July really is like a summertime Christmas--filled with parades, food, and family time.
17.You don't mind driving an hour away to go shopping.
18. Oh, and you also have to drive thirty minutes to an hour away for something different than that three sit-down restaurants in your town.
19. You see the "Back to School" ads and feel a pang in your heart.
20. You think of heading back to your college town, and it hits you; you love being home. You will have to readjust to being away from home all over again. It's possible that you will deal with missing home all over again. Although you miss your college friends, you push the thought of a new semester out of your mind. When August rolls around, you will leave home with a deeper appreciation for your quaint little town. Until then, you drink your morning cup of coffee with relaxation, spend as much as possible with the ones you love, and do the obligatory wave at everyone you see.
