Going Home For The Weekend

I have been going to college in NYC for the past few months and for the first time in my life have been more than a mile from my family. Instead of choosing to go to an easy college that was closer to home, I chose to go to the hardest college I got into that just so happened to be over 900 miles away.

I have been really struggling with my grades and I had been wanting to be able to hug my mom. I wanted her to tell me that everything was going to be okay, but due to Covid-19 there were a lot of state wide travel restrictions that made it impossible for me to take a flight home for a weekend to get that hug. I couldn't be comforted by the one person I really needed it from and it killed me. It made everything so much harder. I missed my cat like crazy and wanted her by my side everywhere I went, but she couldn't move with me.

On April 1st. the travel restrictions were lifted and I was able to go home for the weekend to get that hug! The best thing was, it was Easter weekend! I could actually go home for Easter and spend time with my family and cat, (Lyon). P.S. If you enjoyed the Life of Lyon blogs, please let me know and I will write more of them for you! :)

Let me tell you, after just living in the city for just a few months, it is crazy how much I changed. Especially what I was used to. Three days was not enough to adjust to country living. I knew how to do it, but it felt foreign to me. I went from walking the streets of NYC viewing the tall buildings on my way to my destination

... to driving and viewing deer as I was getting to where I needed to go.

I had never lived in the city before and had to adjust to living in one, but I never expected how weird it would be to go back home. I remembered everything, but I had experienced something more and going back home just felt odd.

Don't get me wrong, I loved getting that hug from my mom (she doesn't like pictures taken of her) and holding my baby girl in my arms again.

Even the way I dressed changed. Back home I loved wearing hoodies and always had my key chain around my neck. In NYC I do not wear hoodies that often and my key chain is back in IL, because you don't need a car in the city.

I mean look at those two photos! The top one is my lounge wear in southern IL, but the bottom one is my lounge wear in New York City. Isn't it crazy how different I dress just based on where I live?

In Illinois I used to always wear a purse everywhere I went, but in the city, you have to walk everywhere. Wearing a purse gets in the way and does not hold everything you may need throughout the entire day. I had to buy this mini back pack that also had a purse like strap on it.

In NYC wearing this adorable backpack is normal. It is what everyone does, but when I automatically carried it with me in IL, it looked odd to everyone around. No one carried backpacks. It just isn't something we do. Even though I knew that, only having three days back home wasn't enough time to feel like it wasn't normal. I knew it wasn't, but my reflexes were saying I needed my backpack on my back.

There were so many more things that were different or just felt weird to me. All I can say is, I loved being back home but 3 days was not enough! I needed more time to readjust to what had always been normal. I needed more time hugging my mom! I needed more of her cooking and just of her. I needed Lyon in my arms for longer than the time I had with her. I needed more time, but didn't have it and won't for another month. But hey! It is just a month and not 4 or 6! Let's see how I adjust when I go back. I kind of wonder if it will ever be the same.