It's that time of year again when college students across the nation pack up their bags, say goodbye to their college towns, and hello to their hometowns for the next five weeks. They've just successfully survived another (or their first) round of finals, and they are finally getting their much deserved break in the form of going home. Last year as I packed a suitcase to leave, I remember feeling so incredibly happy to be going home. I was going to get to see my family, friends, and most importantly pets, and I could not wait to be reunited with everyone. However this year as I packed up a suitcase (or two) that would help me survive the next five weeks, I realized I was more sad by the fact that I had to go home than I was happy. I was, of course, happy that I was going home to be with family, and was even planning on seeing some high school friends; however this time around it wasn't the same level of happiness I experienced last year.
This time around I had the realization all college students must one day have, home just isn't home anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I was/am still so happy I am able to come home for five weeks. Being home for this long, gives me the opportunity to spend quality time with my parents and siblings; and it gives me ample time to catch up with all of my high school friends. However this year, I am only visiting my hometown, and when the five weeks come to an end I will be going back to the city that, over the last year and a half, has slowly turned into my home.
To me home is no longer my childhood bedroom with all of the knick-knacks and memories it holds. It's no longer my high school best friend's passenger seat or the house of one of my high school friends that was the backdrop of every fond high school memory. And it's not my one street (or two if you're being picky) hometown that somehow entertained teenagers just enough to make it to graduation.
Instead home has become apartment 225 that technically only houses four of us, but we have so many pseudo roommates you would think more actually lived there. It's staying up with my best friend/roomie until 2am laughing about SNL videos one minute and the next contemplating how the next ten years will turn out. Home is watching movies and avoiding studying with friends. It's the big white house on Nueces Street. It's Boaz's car and my car (depending on who wants to drive that day). It's the Wendy's in the Union and the Taco Bell on Airport Drive. It's Smoothie King where my small group meets, and Midway Warehouse where my Wyldlife team and I get to pretend to be middle schoolers again. It's the faces of the friends who I have chosen as family, and the beautiful sights of my beloved city as the sun sets on another day.
Every college student will have this realization at some point during their college years. It doesn't mean your hometown isn't still special to you or that you have to cut off all ties with high school friends; it just means that at some point without you realizing it, your heart found a new place to call home and new faces to call family, and that is perfectly okay.
