Not so homesick
After coming back from a long break of watching reruns, spending mom and dad's money and seeing old friends, the anxiety of being away from Chico is finally gone.
When seeing high school friends, the question always comes up: "How's Chico?"
I always respond with an explanation of the struggle to get classes, the endless games of flip cup at my apartment and even the roar of the train.
Sometimes they don't understand. A lot of them are still spending Friday and Saturday night drinking beers by the creek or the bridge or the park - or wherever you did it in high school when no one's parents were out of town.
They seem to think that Chico is just a vacation. That when you're all done you'll come home and nothing will have changed.
It's like having two lives. It's hard to explain to old friends the things you're doing in Chico. And it's hard to let your newer friends in on the things you did back at home. At one time, home was all you knew. In Chico, you just never know what's coming.
I'm starting to think that soon I might only want to go home for my mom's mashed potatoes and to see my fat sausage of a cat. I won't want to see old friends. I'll have grown out of it, like I'm too good for Elk Grove, the town I spent 16 years embracing.
Everyone still has pictures up of old friends. But pictures of a 2 a.m. Franky's escapade, the Chico State sign or your 21st birthday at the bars slowly creep into frames- signs that you too might have grown out of your hometown.
It's not easy to bring your high school friends into your life in Chico. Friends from the past are different people in different places now. If you haven't stayed in touch since you left, catching up feels like a job.
It's important to skip down memory lane once in awhile. But cutting ties and moving forward is important too.
I'm not saying going home is a bad thing -- I mean, the laundry's free. But hanging on to that part of your life too tightly won't leave room for meeting new people and doing new things.
Anticipating new adventures with new friends might make you think less about the past. It's hard to explain the excitement that comes with living in Chico and to tell people what they're missing out on.
So if you spent the break waiting for the day you planned to come back, don't worry. It might seem scary that we're growing out of old lifestyles, but the journey we're on now makes it that much easier.
Sarah can be reached at: featureseditor@orion-online.net
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