This past summer I decided that I needed to live on my own. Not because I wanted to leave my parents by themselves but because I felt I needed a taste of the real world before I have to live it at the end of this year. It really was an eye-opening experience. From paying bills, to making dinner every night, and finding time to exercise at least three times a week, it was a big adjustment to my college life routine that I’ve lived for the past three years, but now I feel more prepared for what is ahead of me. As fun as it was to have whatever I wanted for dinner, and endless time for fun because there was just work and no homework, I still missed these things about home.
Mom’s Homemade Meals
I tell you what, I have a lot more appreciation for my Mom after dealing with cooking for just myself and my boyfriend all summer. She would come home from work and have a three course dinner that was healthy and delicious every single night! However, I was pretty excited when I made an awesome meal, it was rewarding.
Disappearing Messy-ness
Even though I’m a pretty organized person, sometimes I’ll let one too many past outfits sit on the chair in my room. This summer, they stayed there, and so did my dishes if I wasn’t the one to pick them up. At home, even though my mom definitely wasn’t my maid, if things got a little messy, she would put things away and make everything seemed organized, no questions asked.
Folded Laundry
I’m used to doing laundry at school, but it’s definitely more of a routine there because I make it fit into my schedule to go to down to the laundry room and fold. Living on my own, I felt that I always had so much to do that laundry was always on the bottom of my list. By the end of summer, I used laundry as an escape of other things (aka, cleaning the bathroom)
Dad’s Lectures
Do you ever do something that your parents, especially your Dad would totally give you a lecture about? I think that should be a yes from everyone. I’ll have to say, there were times that I was proud of myself because my mind let me lecture my own self, but I still missed my Dad talking to me over a cup of tea how I could have handled a situation better.
HOME
One of the hardest parts about living on my own this summer was that it really didn’t feel like home, just a place that I would be temporarily; which isn’t wrong. There weren’t pictures of childhood on the walls, and there weren’t sounds that I was used to. But, it taught me to appreciate how hard my parents worked to give me all of that, and for that I am thankful.
Living on your own before college is actually over, I think, is an experience everyone should have. You gain a lot of knowledge, appreciate more, and most importantly learn more about yourself. It’s something special to see how much you’ve changed from May-August. I feel that I can take on senior year and maybe my worries and fears may just be a little less because I now have a little bit confidence.
HCXO,
Juli