Homesick: one word, two syllables, many meanings.
To me, being homesick means missing snuggling up in my bed in my own room and being able to wake up and stroll down into the kitchen to an already prepared breakfast. Being homesick, to me, means missing my family, no matter how annoying they are the majority of the time. It means missing hanging out with my friends, even if we’re just aimlessly driving around our impossibly boring town. Being homesick means missing the things that, for the majority of my life, have made me who I am. It means missing a part of myself.
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To other people, being homesick means being weak. It means being a wimp. It means that you aren’t strong enough to be away from your mommy and daddy for more than a day. Being homesick, to some people, means that you don’t know how to have fun. It means that you aren’t doing college right.
Since stepping onto a college campus, I’ve felt the need to prove to other people that I was, in fact, not homesick. That this place without my own bed, or my own room, or my family, or friends, or the things that made me me, for the past eighteen years, was all fine and dandy. I felt the need to convince people that this place was better than home, that the only thing I missed while being away was my favorite place to get dinner with my friends and that my family was the last thing on my mind.
When did it become so wimpy to miss the things you love? Why do we feel the need to pretend like those people and places and things don’t hold a special meaning to us the second we leave them? Why is being homesick considered to be so lame?
The word homesick shouldn’t be an extreme. It doesn’t mean that I hate college, or don’t like my friends at school. It doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the freedom or the constant availability of fun things to do. When I say, “I’m feeling homesick,” it doesn’t mean that I hate where I am, it just simply means that I miss where I’m from.
It means that I’ve gone too long without hearing my dad crack a corny joke, or yelling at my sister for stealing a shirt from my closet. It means thinking about what my family is eating for dinner at home while I eat a questionable piece of meat in the dining hall. It means wanting to pet my dog every time I see someone walking theirs down the sidewalk. It’s longing for a friend from home when something reminds you of them.
To me, being homesick isn’t something that’s lame. In fact, I think it’s something that’s quite admirable. It shows that you are proud of where you’ve come from and the things you’ve left behind. It shows that you love your family and friends. It demonstrates that you value what makes you, you.
So, don’t be ashamed to say “I’m feeling homesick” when you’re longing for a snuggle from your dog, or a word of advice from your mom. Or when you want to watch movies with your home-friends, and eat a home cooked meal. No one is ever 100 percent OK with being away from the place that built them. And even if they say they are, we all know deep down, they’re lying.
