Being home still feels right

This past week, I got to go home.

Thanks to midterm break, I was gifted with two glorious class-free days in which I packed up my dirty laundry -- something I promised myself would never happen, but it turns out a few quarters a week for laundry adds up to expensive -- refused to think about homework and drove the four and a half hours home.

One of my biggest fears before I left for college was that home would never again feel like home. I envisioned myself coming back to a place that vaguely represented some former version of my childhood. My family would seem uncomfortable around me as we all sat straight-backed on plastic covers that protect the couches while drinking tea from china with our pinkies raised. We would wear giant hats and discuss the weather. Or something like that.

This concern, coupled with the fear of changing into a college kid who came back home acting too endowed with the wisdom to enjoy being with the people I used to love, stressed me out.

Driving back to Perryville, the fear voiced itself as a loyalty issue of not being able to like being both at home and at Truman State University. This fear was outweighed, though, by excitement at getting to be home after a month and a half and at God's promise I'd been leaning on to keep my family's relationships strong.

To my relief, there were no plastic covers on couches or china tea sets welcoming me home. Instead, I was welcomed by all of my favorite foods for dinner, a trillion hugs from my family, and my mom informing me numerous times that I still live there and would never be just "visiting." I already knew that; it was just nice to have it confirmed. The only thing I regret about my trip home is that it wasn't longer.

For a while now, I've been craving Perryville. This past month I've really started to like being at Truman and everything I am learning about myself and God's love for me. And now I'm making friends, too, and learning to live my life the way I want to live it. I don't think I have to choose only one place to enjoy. Home will always be home, and Truman houses new adventures and life lessons to learn.

There's a certain feeling about Perryville that I can't explain.

The way the leaves fall in the autumn air or driving down St. Joe Street to see my friends. I know these things could, arguably, happen to me anywhere on the globe, but it feels different to me when it happens in Perryville.

It feels more right.

Mia Pohlman graduated in May from Perryville High School, where she wrote a monthly column. She will continue her column through her first year at Truman State University.