Welcome Home

Nothing is more calming than a breezy summer evening and nothing de-stresses me more than a car ride. So, of course, the Sunday night of finals week, I'm taking the first opportunity to get off campus. I rolled down my windows, turned up the Christian radio, and drove to my favorite gas station down the only major street of the little town I go to college in. Dusk was settling in, lights were flickering on, the air smelled like summer was coming, and the breeze was so warm and inviting.

And you know what? I realized I was at home.

It was a traditional late spring / summer thing for me when I lived at my old house to drive out to the gas station or CVS for gas, milk, or something random in the evenings. It was a year or more ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. It was like taking a chill pill or something, just to get away. I was finding my first breath of independence from my mom and brother. I remember the different routes I would take when I wanted something new. I remember getting lost that one time. I remember thinking this old guy was following me. I remember turning the radio up so loud I thought the neighbors could hear me.

And that made my old house home. I lived there for almost ten years, and it was home. The house I actually grew up in. I walked in that door a scrawny little 4th grader and walked out a confident eighteen year old. There's a little piece of me that would give seriously anything to have that back.

But now I'm a nineteen year old college student. I've got plans and goals and dreams that are suddenly both bigger and smaller than the dreams of my high school days. My hopes are so much more tangible and so much more realized, but also so much deeper now. It's a little frightening, but also a lot of fun.

Along with coming to college is the sudden realization that I've got to adjust to a new home. I don't know if you've kept up with me, but I moved from my old home of ten years to my new home this past June. However, since I've been here at college, I've only been at my new house for three or four months out of the year that my family has lived there. So, college is my home away from home.

It's taken this long, my whole Freshman year, to finally feel completely at home here. Finding a church home helped, growing a group of friends helped, diving into a student ministry helped, eating out and supporting the community helped, but I didn't feel at home until I drove down Big A Road with my windows rolled down and my radio turned up loud.

For me, it's the little things that make me feel at home and at peace. It's finding a little alcove in the rocks surrounding the waterfall on my campus. It's the look in my pastor's daughter's face when I carry her on my shoulders. It's staying up late talking with my roommate, suitemates, and future roommate. It's driving into town by myself on a Sunday evening to get gas.

Yes, I'm home. The bad news is that I leave to go back home on Tuesday. :) Oh well, there's always next semester! And I will be using this summer to spend more time at my new house and in our new city. And, of course, with my family.