You know what’s weird about coming home? Things change or they don’t. You never really know until you step foot into your house or message your old friends. The entire house could be remodeled or it could be exactly the same. Those "old" friends could be your old friends or your best friends, you just never really know.
But the truth about coming home is that things always change. Your house has a new air system and the doors are different and your dad put trimming around the kitchen window. It’s different. Nice, of course, but different. You hear your parents talking about repainting the walls and redoing the floors. You’ve only been gone for eight months, but things still changed or are still changing.
Your parents changed, too. They went on this weight loss diet and now they look so much skinnier compared to the last time you saw them, which is fantastic! You’re ecstatic for them! It’s... just... weird to see how much your family has changed while you’re away at school. Your mom and dad go on trips and see concerts all the time while you’re sitting in a library with your nose pressed against a textbook, anxious about a final. Your parents have become the kids and you’ve become the adult. They’re living your life while you’re trying to find it.
That friend group that you used to be so close with growing up is now gone. Sure, you may be that lucky person who comes home and everyone’s so excited to see you that they have to be with you the minute you come home. You all go out to the bars, now that you’re all grown up and legal. You start doing things you only dreamed of doing with them. You take road trips and go out and survey the nightlife of town. Whatever it is, you’re doing it together. It’s like no time has passed between any members of your group. Yes, things change within that group, but not enough to prevent anyone from having fun like the good old days. You’re close as ever and nothing will ever change that, even when you move away and start your own life. You’ve got your best friends for life.
But things always change, no matter how much you try to prevent it. At first, everyone is so excited that you're home. The group can finally be back together. After a while, the excitement wears off and things go back to how they used to be, before you got back. They start hanging out with their new college friends or start working at their internships for the summer. They get busy with their summer jobs or leave for vacation. That excitement of finally being home with your best hometown friends wears off and there isn't much to do about it.
Sure, you all try everything possible to see each other at least a few times a month, but excuses arise, something comes up or someone doesn't respond. People back out, and before you know it, the summer is over. That short window of opportunity closed, and it was filled with little laughter and short trips to the malls, restaurants and late-night activities. Yes, enjoy it while you can, but don't take it for granted. You only get a few months together until the silence takes over once again. Before you know it, those months of being together will become non-existent. Before you know it, you won't be coming home for the summer, at least, not your hometown. You'll be moving to your new home and your new life. Why would you want to enter that stage of life without the people who helped shape your life?
You've got new memories, new friends and a new life at school, but that doesn't mean you don't love your old friends any less. You share similar memories with them because you basically grew up together. What used to be an inseparable group is now one that barely makes time for one another. It doesn't matter how much one person has changed, as long as they are still willing to put forth effort, friendship exists. We grow, but we remember. We live on, but we can still connect on things that matter most.
That’s the thing about coming home. Things change, but so do you; you're different. You’re at school, living and growing every day around new and different people. You’re discovering who you are and others are having more of an impact on your life than those in the past. You’re changing every day and so is everyone else. You’ve got your life, internships, friends and dreams while everyone else has their own. Maybe now your life and dreams aren’t compatible with your old friends, but that's not a reason to completely disregard what you had growing up. Maybe there is a time to let go of the past, but if someone was important in your life and helped shape your entire life, why let them go so easily? Why judge them without really understanding who they've become? Maybe home isn't the only thing that drastically changed over the past eight months.
It’s nice to come home, but it’s scary to see how much you and your past life has changed. You've changed as a person in every way, but so has everyone around you. It's exciting to see how much you, and they, have grown since high school. You’re not the same kid you were when you lived at home. You’re smarter, more mature and you know what you want. That’s the thing about coming home: you get to discover.
