Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Day 660: Home

One of my best friends is in the middle of one of the biggest decisions of her life: college. It's a tough decision, and personally I hate how much they push such a decision at a young age. Yes, it's very important, exceedingly so, but that doesn't mean you have to know the answer to every one of their questions in second grade or even sophomore year. Gosh, a lot of times you don't even know your senior year. I think Everyday Disney was a big part of figuring out what exactly I wanted to do after leaving High School, and I'm forever thankful for that, but that's not what we're here to talk about.

I was discussing with her the reasons to choose a specific college over another one. I had it pretty easy, since I only actually applied to two colleges and made my decision fairly quickly based on the programs I wanted to go into, the close-to-home location, the campus and specifically, the people and staff who work here. I knew a lot of them previous to coming to SNC, so it sort of just felt like home. It was familiar and comfortable, and that's what's really important with a college experience. Without it you'll start to go crazy. Yeah, it won't feel perfect, and when you step onto campus for your first day you obviously have a lot to learn about where things are and where you'll study, but that comes with time.

Regardless, I couldn't help but think of Disney during our conversation, since she was upset to the point that she didn't want to even go to Disney. Sorry Mate, but this made me laugh a little bit, although the laughter had nothing to do with you. I explained that I found that odd, since when I get really upset I don't want to go to my room and curl up in a ball or go back to my dorm room and hide in the closet or something weird. No, I actually want to go to Disney.

I can't even begin to think about the number of times when people asked if I get homesick at college. I think, to some point, I really do. I miss my family and my cat and my shower and the privacy that comes with a bedroom of your own, but I love my roommates dearly and I love campus and I love SNC. It's just an odd sentence to ask me since I get homesick more at "home" than I do here. In fact, I get homesick far more often than I probably should, simply because my home isn't a half hour away. It's a couple of hours away by plane.

I can recall this one time several years ago when I was really upset about something. I honestly don't remember specifically what I was upset about, but I suppose that doesn't matter now. The point is that I do remember sitting on the staircase in my house, long after everyone else had gone to bed and just crying in the dark. Like I said, I was probably stressed out or something like that, but it was overwhelming, and I think that in that moment, I'd never felt more homesick in my entire life, despite the fact that I was literally sitting directly in the middle of my house. At first I don't think it occurred to me what that feeling was, but eventually I realized that all I needed was to go to Disney. I needed to go home, but sadly that wasn't in the cards for quite some time.

That's the thing about us Disney fans who really do see Disney as home. We spend the majority of our time missing it, and on some level that makes it all the more special. But it also is incredibly frustrating. Yes, we have our own ways of calming down because we have to, but trips are few and far between for many of us, and therefore we must find a different way to capture that magic. Everyday Disney does that, spending nights watching movies with my brother and my cat does that, Once Upon A Time parties do that and my roommates sure help do that too.

In the end, that's kind of what I said to her though. I see SNC as a home. Maybe not my only home, but a home because I'm pretty sure that by 20 years from now, I'll have about 5 or 6 of those. It's crazy, it's frustrating, it's difficult, but it's completely worth it too. After all, they do say that home is where the heart is.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 23).

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