Goodbyes have always been extremely difficult for me. Whether it was my first summer at camp and I was nervous to spend seven weeks away from home… or my ninth summer and I was just going to miss the comforts of home, I have always hated saying goodbye. The term goodbye has always made me feel like I am never going to see someone again and, quite frankly, that is depressing.

As I prepared to begin my freshman year of college, I was confident that my camp days would make leaving home (at least a little) easier. As July came to a close and August quickly flew by, the same term, saying goodbye kept coming up and I hated it just as much as I did in 2004.

Is there any other way to say goodbye without making it seem like it’s the last time you are going to see someone… ever again? I was unsure how to answer this question for quite some time and honestly tried to avoid thinking about it as much as I possibly could. I was able to postpone saying goodbye until the end of August, since BU move in and the start of classes was later than most other schools.

Leaving for school later than most people definitely had some advantages, but as my last few days at home approached I began to think about saying goodbye once again. This time it was my turn to leave without knowing when I would return home next. To be honest, this was the first time I hated being the oldest grandchild on my mom’s side of the family.

As I sat down for my last meal with my whole family, I tried to keep my cool and not think about the dreaded goodbye that would soon come at the end of the meal. Of course, just because I was trying not to think about saying goodbye, I could not stop thinking about it.

As everyone got up from the table to leave, I took a deep breath and reassured myself that I was going to be okay and the goodbyes would be over before I knew it. As I gave everyone a hug, I made sure to say “I will see you soon” rather than goodbye. This definitely saved me a lot of tears, tissues, and most importantly taught me the significance of my mindset. I was able to successfully convince myself that the goodbyes would go smoothly… and so they did.

Whether it is your freshman year, sophomore year, junior year or senior year it is OK to miss home, but don’t let saying goodbye make it any harder than it has to be. I promise, once you are at school you will be so happy to be there and every year the goodbyes will get a lot easier.