Photo courtesy of The O’Conner Group | Staff Writer Emily Price talks about the importance of keeping your home close to your heart.
I remember the day that I moved to college vividly. There were a lot of unspoken things I missed and a lot of tears I tried not to spill. Saying goodbye to my parents and the place I call home was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I thought I was losing my home and the few weeks leading up to that day consisted of me repeating that thought and letting the tears fall. I knew I wasn’t leaving for good, but it felt final. It felt as if once I left, things would never be the same. I was right, but in a good way.
The thing that made leaving so difficult was how much I love my home. I have always been a very home-oriented person. I always want to stay in, I love having dinner or watching one of my favorite movies with my parents, I own more blankets than I can count and I change into my comfy clothes the second I return from school or work. Home is where my heart is, but what will happen when I pack up my stuff and leave? Will my heart come with me or will I exist with my body and my heart in two separate places?
The answer was neither. My heart stayed there, but it came with me too. It expanded to fit and exist in both places. Suddenly, I have so much more to love in my life than I ever did.
At Xavier, I still do all the stuff I did with my family. I love to watch movies with my friends (under all those blankets that I have), go to basketball games, tell stories over dinner or have a quiet night in.
Coming here didn’t mean that I lost my home, it meant that home became a feeling. It’s the feeling of seeing my friends sitting in our section of the caf, of talking to my parents on the phone or finally coming back to my room after a long day. I feel home when I see a picture of my dog or when I meet my mom or dad for lunch.
Home is where the heart is, and my heart is in everything that I love, not just the house I grew up in or the streets where I learned to drive. Home is how I feel.
Things haven’t been the same since that day, but they aren’t meant to be. Being displaced from all the stuff I used to know was difficult, and it is still difficult every day, but when I have those moments that make me feel at home, I know it is all worth it.
Going to college means growing and learning things about myself that I wouldn’t be able to by staying in the place I grew up, even though that place gave me so much. I was forced to step out of my comfort zone. I realized that comfort is something that I have control over. It is something we all have control over.
Any big move or change that you have to make can be done because when you leave home, you also have the power to take it with you.
Emily Price is a first-year psychology major and staff writer for the Newswire from Miamisburg, Ohio.