No matter what age you are, you are never too old to miss your home. While it was definitely easier to leave home this year, my sophomore year, than it was last year, it still took a lot of strength, and just a bit of crying, to leave my home again to be back in my favorite place in the world.

I miss my family. I miss my mother. I miss her praise of me no matter what I do, I miss her passive aggressively saying, "Is that really what you're wearing?" when my outfit is wrong for the event. I miss my dad. I miss his hugs when I'm having a bad day, and his disappointed looks when I do something stupid. I even miss my brothers. The arguing that was never over anything important, the conversations over favorite shows or stupid memories. I miss my dog. His comforting warmth when I'm sad, and his joyous tail wag after a long day apart.

I miss my home. I miss my bed with it's calming blue color, and the lights above it that always calm me down.I miss my room which is just a tad messy and perfectly decorated to my tastes. I miss my kitchen which always had only my favorite snacks packed in it, that was home to my favorite foods. The smells of pancakes cooking on Saturday morning, and pizza nights with my family. I miss my living room with perfectly lived in couches. And I miss my library with all my favorite books stocked perfectly in a row.

I miss my hometown. I miss the park where I walked my dog everyday. And the QT that everyone and their aunt went to, and that was akin to a hang out spot for kids from my school. I miss my too small high school parking lot, that basically begged people to park illegally and get ticketed. I miss all the roundabouts, because no matter how much you hate them, the road designers of Johnson County always seem to think we need more.

I miss home. I love being back in Manhattan and being with all my friends. I had missed them so much over the summer and it was so amazing to be reunited. None of this however, takes the place of my home and my family though. These friends comfort and support me like my family, but the minute I walk out of my Shawnee home I incur a giant hole in my heart for the one place that I have always returned to, the people who have been, and always will be, there for me.