Leaving for college is one of the most historic moments in the life of your average Almost Adult. By this point, you’ve passed the last final (the one you began studying for the morning of), accepted all of the hard-earned awards (proud winner of the Has No Filter award, class of 2015), and walked down every single footpath that stems from memory lane. It’s a bittersweet moment, walking out of that high school for the very last time. But nothing you endured during that last week of cutting ties and celebrating the coming future prepared you for what was next: leaving the house you called home. No matter how much time you've spent making memories and mistakes between the confines of those four walls, they hold a special place in your heart. Now you’re standing at the door, bags packed, and you’re forced to add up all the little things in your mind that have made this place so darn hard to part with. It’s not the walls with the picture frames and quirky dents. It’s not even the backyard where you hosted a farewell party just days ago. It’s those faces reflected in your teary eyes as somebody yells, “I don’t want to be a Johnny Rain Cloud, but the car’s been running for 20 minutes already, let’s go!” Mom and Dad are proud of you, you know that. But leaving the people who love you is harder than you thought it would be. Eight hugs later and it hits you; you’ve nailed down what it is that’s making it so hard to walk out, what’s going to make being away as difficult as it will be, and ultimately what will make coming home the sweetest reunion you could possibly imagine.
You’re a college kid leaving little people back home and it’s kind of a big deal.
Here are a few things that will change your college experience if you are the big brother or sister to some very little people back at home:
1. Decorating your dorm will be no problem at all.
Upon moving in, I already had plenty of hand-drawn masterpieces ready to be hung on my walls, my dresser, my bed, my roommate’s desk, my other roommate’s desk, and so on. In the coming weeks, I would be removing green construction paper carrots to make room for a portrait of a family of bunnies with “Pleez Come Home Soon” sketched into the rainbow. Mail notifications became synonymous with instructions to make room on any fraction of wall still available for another piece of a five-year-old’s wild and imaginative brain to make its home in your company. Get over your perfect Pinterest vision and plaster that sparkly paper plate onto your wall, knowing that every second you’re gone, they’re thinking about you. You should feel honored that when mom says “OK girls, craft time!,” they immediately pour all of their imagination and a good bit of their precious little hearts into a one-of-a-kind creation with your name on it. You are being cared for and thought of every second of every moment. Find a place to remember and appreciate that.
2. Yes, I know it’s a three-day break, and yes, I really am going home again.
“Wait, but it’s October.”
“Yes…”
“And you’re already missing home?!?!”
“Well, sure but...”
“But like freedom! Aren’t you happy to be out of your house for once? Away from parental surveillance?!"
“Well, yeah, but it’s Twin Valley Soccer season and the Bumble Bees have a championship this weekend and they HAVE to beat the Thunder Clouds!”
“...”
There’s a lot going on back in the world of ballet recitals and preschool graduations. College is a time of new beginnings and super-exciting happenings, but it’s impossible to focus on all of that when the most precious moments of your siblings' lives are happening while you are hundreds of miles away. Going home is more than just seeing your old friends and getting your mom to send you back to school with a week’s worth of frozen leftovers; going home is reentering the world that hasn’t stopped turning. Leaving for a few months means being absent from countless memory-making moments. It’s important to know that you are a part of your siblings' growing up that they will vividly remember, because the idea of them forgetting you is quite possibly the worst imaginable thing. Ever.
3. Phone calls in public.
When you’ve been on the planet for a mere eight years, a week is an eternity. They might be making countdown chains and "Welcome Home" signs well in advance of your arrival, but you better expect the phone calls, Skype calls, and snail mail to continue in full force until the day you show up. If you so happen to take one of these phone calls in public, be prepared for the startling reality that a large majority of the people you are currently surrounded by haven’t had a conversation with or concerning a person one-third of their age since they were in fact that age themselves. So when you’re in line for a sandwich and your mom is giving you the highlights and you loudly respond, “You let the five-year-old name the new car 'The Grey Mango?,' the people around you will have two choices: 1. Laugh uncomfortably while nonchalantly backing away, or 2. Stare until you offer a logical explanation. And that makes sense. Because this isn’t a normal life you’re living. But it’s yours.
Although you miss the standard things that all college kids miss when they say goodbye, your list of Things We Sometimes Cry About has a few add-ons: kissing boo-boos that don’t exist just to make the crying stop, tiny hugs that can barely wrap around your waist, whispers that turn to belly laughter, being greeted with dried up wildflowers, and the most loving eyes known to mankind looking up to you.
Don't forget about your tiny cheerleaders; they certainly haven't forgotten about you.
