On Monday, October 7, it was announced that school would be canceled the following Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for Hurricane Milton. At the time, it was predicted that the storm would pass near Gainesville, so when some friends offered my roommate and I a ride down to Miami, we eagerly accepted the opportunity to go back home. We left at 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning and arrived at around 2 p.m.Â
I was very excited to go back because this was my first time returning since leaving for college in August. I looked forward to finally seeing my dogs and being able to drive again. I couldn’t wait to watch TV with my mom like we always used to and to visit old friends who had stayed in Miami.
Since I live in an apartment, I have to cook and/or pay for all my food, so the first thing I did was ask my mom to take me to my favorite burger place, followed by my favorite ice cream place. The food tasted better than I remembered, most likely due to the fact that it was free (thank you, mom) and not prepared by me.Â
After eating, I went back to my childhood home for the first time in months. I was greeted by my small but hyper dogs, who, I will say, smelled a little worse than I remembered, but I didn’t care. After playing with them for a while, I went into my childhood room and laid on my bed. I had slept in this bed for years, but it suddenly felt too hard compared to my mattress back in Gainesville. I also kept noticing how dark the floors were since the ones in my apartment are much lighter. And the temperature felt far too warm because I’d grown accustomed to the once freezing temperature of my apartment. It’s weird because we expect things to change when we go to college, but we expect everything to feel the same when we go back home.Â
The next bittersweet moment occurred when I got to drive alone for the first time. I was a bit late to the driving game and only began driving the summer after senior year. This meant that every memory I have of driving a car is confined to this past summer, which consists mainly of rides to, from or with my friends in our final moments as teenagers. The memories started pouring in, and I was filled with a sense of nostalgia I didn’t know how to handle. The place was the same, but nothing would actually be the same again.Â
But even though months had passed and everyone had changed, the only difference in seeing my friends was that we now had a lot to catch up on. I visited two friends from the grade below me, and found it difficult to believe that they were no longer “the juniors.” I listened as they ranted about International Baccalaureate program deadlines and college applications, which certainly made me grateful to be past that painful era. I also visited one of my best friends from middle school, and we talked for hours about our lives and how different we are from the two eighth graders who bonded in P.E.
Most of all, I enjoyed the time I spent with my family. I savored every moment, knowing how much I would miss them when I went back to Gainesville. I watched TV and ate with my parents and sister every night. I never complained about my sister’s hair clumps in the shower because I didn’t care enough to spend my few days there in a fight with her, and when my dad called a once-dreaded family meeting, I found myself not wanting it to end.
Going home emitted a mixture of emotions. Even though being home reminded me of how much has changed, it also reminded me of how much I have changed, and the fact that it was temporary made me enjoy it so much more.