The Strange Art of Being Home

With December came Christmas, the one time of the year that I feel obligated to spend with my family in my parents’s house in San Francisco.

I’m not really very good at being ‘home’ anymore. The last time I was there, aside from two two-day pit stops in May, was December last year. I’m so accustomed to the independence of being on my own now, but when I come home I feel like I lose a few of my years.

I haven’t been late to work or slept in and missed class in the morning at McDaniel. Ever. Yet the first day I was home I had to be up early for a dentist appointment and my alarm just didn’t go off, and my dad needed to wake me up. I found myself unable to figure out how to untie a knot in my shoelaces and had to get my mum to help. I couldn’t manage to find the flour in the cupboard that was right in front of me and needed my sister to show me where it had gone. I am perfectly capable of living by myself, yet I think my parents found that hard to believe with all the dumb stuff I did around them.

I found myself strangely apathetic this break. I saw the people that I skype with or correspond with often, and I saw my old bosses. But unlike last year, in the middle of freshman year, I didn’t feel inclined to catch up with every second person I’d once known. I suppose that’s a part of moving on in life.

Despite needing to use my inhaler twice a day due to the allergies I’d once defeated, it was so lovely having my cats around. I considered bringing them back to Maryland with me, but decided that my floormates might not appreciate a couple of cats wandering around. (Sadly, cats aren’t allowed in campus housing anyway.) Photos of my cats being adorable to come! I also took the opportunity to drink boba and milk tea at least five times. Maryland needs to get its boba act together — a bubble tea stand in the Westminster Town Mall would be nice!

I tried to make the most of the break, however, since next year I’ll be abroad and the following Christmas I’m hoping to work in Yellowstone for winter season and have my family come to me.