So I’m back in North Carolina. Flights went well, I got back to my apartment fine, I’ve started unpacking, I’ve made my grocery list for tomorrow, I cleared the TiVo . . .

And I’m terribly, HORRIBLY homesick!!!!!!!

I hate this about coming to school. Every time I come back my homesickness gets worse. I guess that’s the price I pay for having a great relationship with my family. There is no one I’d rather be with than my family, and I miss them so much when I’m at school. It’s so lonely up here - our house is full of life. My mom and I are always doing thing together, my dad is always goofing around with me, my brother is turning into an adult and I’m missing it, and if no one is at home with me, I have the two most adorable puppies EVER to keep me company . . .

And here at school? If I throw myself into work, then maybe I won’t notice the lack of a family up here. But now I can’t throw myself into work like I used to could because I have to be careful now or I’ll have a mono reoccurance. Sigh . . .

I’ve always been a homebody (I wasn’t able to spend the night away from home and actually stay the whole night until I was in middle school). They almost had to come and pick me up from camp the first summer that I was there - I was so miserable. I always figured it would get easier when I got a little older, but it’s not easier, it’s just different. Perhaps harder. I try not to think about being away from my family, but I find myself absentmindedly thinking things like “the next time I see them will be in two months,” and that makes it so hard. I mean, I talk to my mom almost every day (more than once on most days). But it’s not the same as living with her.

So that’s where I stand tonight. In my apartment, without my family, and sad . . . crying sad . . .