I've lived in Friendswood, Texas since the week before I started first grade. However, this Christmas break I'm starting to realize that home doesn't feel so much like home anymore. I call College Station home but I also still call Friendswood home. In the past year, though, I haven't spent more than two consecutive weeks in my "hometown". Until now. I grew up here. Here was comfortable. Here were Friday night football games followed by Whataburger, Monday night Young Life club, Tuesday night basketball games, Saturday morning practices, and weekend bonfires. Here were familiar faces, my favorite restaurants, and streets that I could (probably) drive with my eyes closed. The funny thing is that I thought growing out of my hometown would be a gradual, conscious process of growing up. However, as a sophomore in college I found myself "home" for Christmas and suddenly "home" was a strange mix of nostalgia and renovations. "Home" is always Friendswood, but I can no longer find what used to make it home.

Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator

It's odd being back in my hometown when so much has changed here. You go away for a while and suddenly everything looks the same, yet slightly different. You can't quite put your finger on it but it no longer feels like yours. But then again, maybe I'm the one who changed. Sometimes the memories I have here haunt me if I dwell on them for too long. Other times the memories shared between friends bring me belly laughs and tears in my eyes. Living here seems like another lifetime, but then again it feels like yesterday. There is an ironic mix of newness and familiarity that greets me every time I come back home.

Thankfully I get to come home to the friends that sat with me at a round lunch table against the windows in the new cafeteria at Friendswood High School. Thankfully I get to come home to the teachers who inspired me to constantly be curious and to let learning be more than the four walls that make up a classroom. Happily I get to come home to families who have an open door and who let me sit at their kitchen counter for (almost) as long as I want. I was fortunate enough to truly enjoy growing up in a small town with a little too much word-of-mouth and a little lacking in the grace department. While the majority of my college friends have dreaded going home, I've been proud to call Friendswood my home when school isn't in session.

This time coming home to Friendswood didn't feel the same. The feeling that this town isn't mine anymore hit me in the face like the humidity when I walk outside. My memories blow over the town like a cold front's breeze. They're only here for a little bit, but then again so am I. Being in college means being stuck in limbo between homes. College is home, but then again my hometown is home. I miss whichever one I'm not in for the moment.

I guess you could say that I outgrew my hometown. It's no longer as easy to fill my time with friends and hobbies and activities like I used to do. At the same time, though, I think that this small hometown of mine outgrew me. It's nice being back here and being reminded of who I was while here. However, it's also nice getting to be away from here. Friendswood will always be "home" because Friendswood is family, friends, and familiarity. But for the time being, my hometown isn't home anymore. Home is College Station. Home won't be the same place for my whole life, but for now I'm thoroughly enjoying having two homes filled with people I love and know deeply.