This afternoon I had my last final exam of the fall semester. I quickly finished packing my car and hit the road. In a little over an hour, I was home.
I got home at 8pm to find that no one was home except for my mom, who had already gone to bed because she wasn't feeling well. By 8:20, I had said hi to my pets, noticed that the Christmas tree was crooked and missing my favorite ornaments, checked Facebook, and read all of that day's MLIAs. Twenty minutes after getting home, I was already bored. Great... I'm going to be here for a few weeks and I'm already bored!
By 8:45, I had made and consumed a plate of nachos. I had washed all the dirty dishes in the sink. I had played some Chris Rice on the piano. Still booooored.
Finally, my dad and sisters got home. My youngest sister, Jessica, turned on the tv. Watching tv to entertain me hadn't even crossed my mind since I so rarely watch it anymore. She, Monica, and I then had some sister bonding time by using Facebook pictures and posts to tell stories about what's been happening recently (I was pretty much the only one who told about my life, but whatever).
It's weird being out of the loop from being gone. Monica informed me that she had had her "new" jacket for a few months. Well it was new to me!!!
Since tomorrow is a school/work day for my family, I was soon alone again as everyone else scattered to their respective parts of the house. I laid on the couch watching the weather. Yes, the weather on tv! Normally I just do the normal 21st Century thing and google the forecast, so I felt very old school.
After awhile, my older brother Loren got home from work. After catching me up on (aka complaining about) how his classes were going, he quickly remembered his newest gadget. Turns out this one was pretty cool... one of those massager things whoo! I quickly volunteered to be his guinea pig, and like any awesome brother, he gave me a 10 minute back massage. Ahhh simply amazing!
After complaining about the "dumb" books he has to read for his English class, my brother pulled out the book that he's "reading for fun". It was "Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression". Only my brother would consider that fun reading haha. After then discussing cars and legos (and then his favorite websites that talk about cars and legos), he decided to google sheep shearing since I'm an animal science major. Yeah. We youtubed the guy who's the world's fastest sheep shearer. Beat that for fun! (*sarcasm*)
Ok. So the fact that I just wrote down everything I did this evening proves how bored I am!! Realizing that I have no homework due, no tests to study for, no need to set an alarm clock, and nothing in particular to do for the next few weeks is weird. Over the past few months, Virginia Tech has become my home, and my friends there have become my family. Now, I'm at my real home with my real family. It's odd. It's like having two different lives. But it's not the having of two different lives that's difficult. It's the occasional moments, like right now, where those two lives cross paths.
It makes me wonder if coming back home will always be this way from now on. Will it always be a place that can be like a warm, comfortable blanket, but at the same time worn-out and scratchy? Will it always be the place that I always want to be when I'm far away, yet when I'm here, I wish I was somewhere more exciting? Was this past summer the last time in my life that this green bedroom and arched windows will truly be my home? Has this house changed from being the place I refer to as "my home" to the place I describe to people as "my childhood home"??
Ah sometimes growing up is tough. They (whoever "they" are) say home is where the heart is. Although sometimes my heart is sitting on top of this quilt that so perfectly matches these green walls, oftentimes my heart wants to be with the people I love. Other times, my heart just wants to be in the middle of an open field, gazing at the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains that surround my quaint little country town.
Over the next few days, I will adjust to the fact that I am now living this life, not my Virginia Tech life. In a few days, I will have become just as attached to this place as I used to be. When it comes time to pack and go back to school, I will get really quiet and just want to go sit in my green room and never leave.
But I will leave. I will go back to school. I will see my friends and be glad I'm back. I will adjust to my new classes. Then, once I am in the middle of the busy bustle of that life, I will realize I miss moments like I am experencing right now here in this life. I will miss my horse. I will miss my family. I will miss my open field. I will miss being able to tilt my head back at night and see thousands upon thousands of miniscule diamonds spread upon a silky blue-black backdrop. At that moment, the beautiful lines that OneRepublic sings will begin to scroll through my head. "Come home, come home, cause I've been waiting for you..."
No matter where I go, no matter what I do, this brick house will always be home. Sure, someday I'm sure I'll live in a house longer than the 10 years that I have lived in this one, and I'm sure that I will fall in love with a house the way that I have loved this one, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart. That piece of my heart will always call this place home.
