You never realize how much you miss home until you go home and then it’s time to leave again. I had the chance to go home this weekend for a short two-day visit. Two days was definitely not enough time. It was my first time going home in a month, but it felt like forever since I saw everyone last.
It is really hard transitioning from the summer – where you spend almost every day with your family – to seeing them on a monthly basis. You were used to a routine that involved your loved ones and now you have to develop one without them physically in it.
I didn’t necessarily see my parents every day, but I saw my boyfriend every day and that was and always has been a hard adjustment. We have been together for five years, and almost four of those years have been with me being at Gannon.
I am not going to lie; being in a long-distance relationship takes a lot more effort than a “normal” relationship because the only means of communication is electronically or over the phone. Thankfully, there is Skype and text messaging but it still isn’t the same as physically being there with each other.
We try to see each other once a month, sometimes more, but it’s hard when we are both so busy with work and school. I am thankful, though, that this is my last year and that I will finally be able to see him on a daily basis all year round.
My parents went through a similar struggle when I was in high school and during part of my freshman year when my Dad worked in Batswana. He would be gone for a month, or maybe two months, at a time and the time difference was so drastic that when he was waking up we would be going to bed and vice versa. He now works for Molson Coors.
He still travels, but not for anywhere near the length of time he did when he was going to Batswana and it is now mostly within Canada.
That scenario is obviously more drastic than mine because I have a four-hour car ride home – not an 18-hour flight from the other side of the world home. They got through it though, but I can imagine it wasn’t easy, especially when I went away for school and it was just my mom.
My brother was in British Columbia finishing up his schooling, my Dad was in South Africa and I was in Erie. She did get a dog, however, to keep her company – but we all think it was to replace us. If you knew my dog and the spoiled brat that she is you’d agree completely – I am now the middle child.
My mom and I are similar in that sense – she spoils Quinn, my fluffy puppy, and I spoil my crazy semi-demonic cat, Meows, because we miss our human counterparts.
Meows fills a void almost, and takes my mind off the fact that the one I love isn’t there with me. I get to take care of something when the person I want to take care of the most isn’t there.
There could be a thousand people surrounding you, but if that one person, who you want to be there the most, isn’t, then it doesn’t matter who’s to your left or to your right.
You start to miss being home the second you start driving away from it because “Home is where the heart is,” and you left your heart on your front doorsteps.
BECKY HILKER
