When deciding where to go to college, I completely eliminated the idea of going to school a short 15-20 minute drive away from my hometown. Anytime it was mentioned, I shut it down immediately, claiming it was WAY too close to home. Looking back now, choosing the school close to my hometown was my best decision. During the past two years of college, I have never once experienced being homesick until now. Sure, I have thought about how I missed my family and pets, but I never had the urge to get in my car and drive home. So why, as a junior in college now, am I suddenly feeling this way? And why does it feel abnormal to admit that I miss being home?Â
While I’m trying to find the route of this newfound feeling, I track it back to the memories I made with my family over the summer. This past summer was the first that I was genuinely home the most, besides working and the sporadic outings with friends. My hometown best friend stayed in Pittsburgh, where she goes to college, leaving me with little-to-no summer plans (besides when she would occasionally come home). My older sister joined my bestie in the plan to leave me home bored, staying in her apartment for the majority of the summer. Although this seemed upsetting and lonely at first, I quickly realized I would be able to embrace my love of being an introverted homebody, at the cost of staying home with my parents, which seemed uninteresting at first.Â
Sure enough, the summer went on, and I began spending time with my parents more than I had in the past two years since I’d gone to college. I found myself wandering downstairs simply to sit on the couch with my mom and bother her, which I do best. We would go on walks in the park together, with our new cute puppy that we ventured to Virginia to get, while gossiping and laughing together. On days we weren’t lounging around the house, we would run errands together, sit at the pool on vacation, and even try to fight off hackers invading every online account she had. When she would pester me to clean my room or do chores, I still found myself gravitating to wherever she was in the house just to see what she was doing or to sit on my phone in silence with her like I would with my best friends.Â
And for my rockstar comedian of a dad, who I also am practically a carbon copy of, summer nights were spent with him playing guitar in the living room or telling me jokes he thought of while at work. Since I am the “mini-me” of my dad, we have the same sarcastic sense of humor, which we would often use to annoy my mom during dinner or crack jokes at whatever TV show we had on for that night. On one of the rare nights that my sister was home with us, I remember playing music in the kitchen after my mom had gone upstairs to bed. My sister stood giggling in the hallway as my dad and I danced hand-in-hand around the kitchen, our dogs becoming rowdy as we twirled around. I realized how meaningful memories like this one were, and I honestly think my brain chemistry changed that night to wanting to always prioritize creating memories like this one.Â
The three of us began having game nights playing incredibly thrilling card games, like go-fish, while my mom accused my dad and I of cheating as we laughed until we were in tears. Aside from making more memories with my parents, I joined my Nana and Pop (who happen to be the most precious grandparents in the world) on several outings to lunch and dinner, along with the occasional 5-minute drive to their house to assist them with technology. I was more excited about our yearly week-long trip to the beach than any other year, and made sure to be productive in every moment I could – We spent the week going to local markets, relaxing on the beach or by the pool, walking into town to shop, or going out to eat. Â
As I get older and think about the life I have waiting ahead of me, I find myself realizing that I am not the only one getting older; my family is too. A summer spent surrounded by my loved ones made me realize that spending time with them is SO important and is why I feel the way I do today. I am constantly surrounded by love from my best friends at college, but nothing feels the same as the warmth and adoration from family– and that’s not embarrassing to say! Loving out loud and missing people is so important and being homesick is almost comforting in knowing that I treasure time with family so much more now, and the place they hold in my heart is more important than anything in the world. No matter what year of college you’re in or how far into adulthood you are, being homesick is never something to be ashamed of. If anything, you should be proud to be able to say that you have people in your life who feel like home.Â