Rootless Tree

As a college student, home has taken on a new meaning. I can refer to home and mean two entirely different geological points on a map: Norman and Oklahoma City. I feel like a potted plant in a Uhaul. It can be placed anywhere, but it doesn't have a permanent home. It can migrate from the living room to the kitchen, from Raleigh to Beaumont, but is constantly packing up its leaves and dirt for the next transfer. I can't wait for the time that I can be thoroughly planted somewhere (preferably not Oklahoma, like we already discussed) and put down worry-free roots.


The college home is an independent place. But with my home at OU comes different struggles; constant interaction, constant academic mindset, and less rest. My family's home in Quail Creek has the drawback of consistent (though minimal) supervision, but the plus sides of free laundry, free food, a room of my own, and access to a car. 


My family makes that home something wonderful to travel to. I can't wait to be there for an extended stay in just a mere month. This past Easter weekend was the stuff of familial fairy tales. Waking up in my own bed, cooking omelets in the kitchen with Shari, having the freedom to lounge on any couch I choose are just a few of the blessings I got to experience. My family is always so welcoming to any friends that I bring home, and I admire their unfailing hospitality to my peers (granted, Oakes keeps his comments to a minimum, but I take his silence as a grudging acceptance). 


They even recognized that I am never too old for an Easter basket, and now my desk is littered with jelly beans, peeps, and chapstick. Among the pastel shrapnel was something even more precious to me than the crinkled five dollar bills carefully hidden within plastic eggs; scraps of paper with encouraging messages scrawled across them. To have permanent tangible proof that my family believes in me will help me make it through this month, and beyond. I carefully taped them up alongside my to-do post-its, reminders that I have the abilities to complete the daunting tasks looming over the next few weeks. 


What did A Very Lucky Girl do to deserve a family like this?

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