I think it's safe to say that many of us drift apart from our former home lives when we leave for college. It’s a totally natural thing to do. But, I find myself missing the times I could hang out with my parents and chill with them. It also makes me reflective of the years I had at home. Always wanting to go out, to be with friends, to go on trips, and never understanding the value of a simple day where all you do is hang with your family at home and observe their daily lives. I remember the days when my dad would come home from work and the evolution of that memory. I remember being 6 and hearing him come home and then running to meet him at the door. I remember being 12 and hearing him come home and then just walking over to meet him at the door. And then I remember being 19 and hearing him come home and barely lifting my head from all the work I needed to do. I think that the sentiment was the same. I loved hearing my dad come home. But as I grew, I no longer thought it was an appropriate reaction to show those sentiments the way I would when I was 6.

And what a shame that is. And now I am 21. I have been completely away from my home for more than a year and when I am home I spend a lot of the time out of the house. This is the first summer I have been totally away and it has made me reflective of the time where I just sat and listened for the sounds of my dad coming home.

And then there are the memories of my mom. The majority of those memories revolve around her cooking in the kitchen, busy at work to feed her family. I should rephrase that with a word more appropriate than “feed” because her meals were the most delicious and gourmet meals any mother ever cooked for her family. And now I am in this big city, all alone and my kitchen remains for the most part empty with no life except for when I cook for myself. And her biggest inheritance to me was the ability to cook for myself and I guess in that way she is still with me. But how many days did I sit doing my homework listening to her cook and not see what a beautiful memory was being made? How many days did I not notice those were the sounds, the sights, and the smells that warm the dearest memories I have of home?

Still, even at this age and even being away from them, I know that I have those memories to stay with me. And it makes me excited for the days to come where I can sit and fully appreciate the life of the home around me.