With graduation just around the corner, the thought of moving on from high school becomes a reality.
Students are dispersing throughout the country to study their passion, immersing themselves in new cultures and environments.
But they all have one thing in common: the homes that they will come back to.
Except for me.
In an effort to downsize and get money to put toward retirement savings, my parents are moving to a smaller home in Aptos, where they will likely spend the rest of their lives. Because of this, I will be spending my first two years at Cabrillo College and then transferring to the University of California, Santa Cruz.
During breaks where students reunite with their families and high school friends, I will not have the privilege of calling Belmont my home.
Although I am grateful and excited about this new chapter in my life, I cannot help but feel that I will feel disconnected with the people I have spent my last four years with.
Some of my peers take college as an opportunity to escape from the confines of siblings or overbearing parents. They crave the freedom that college offers.
However, I am an only child with reasonable parents. And I do not have any sort of desire to leave them immediately.
Since I will be living in a new place, I will have access to all of the experiences that a four-year-college could give me.
Even though I will only be an hour away, home will take on a new meaning. Someone will occupy the house that I have called home for the past ten years.
The sadness and uncertainty that a new chapter brings is an inevitable feeling that everybody encounters at one point or another.
Throughout your life, you will eat at different restaurants, walk at different parks, and go to different schools. You have to prepare yourself for these ever-changing circumstances. But the memories you make and milestones you cross will never be forgotten. The house you live in can change, but home stays with you forever.
