Chicken Fried

A few weeks ago I got a (semi) break in my life and got to go home for the weekend. Home, for me, in down below the Mason-Dixon line in Georgia, where Chick-Fil-As are everywhere, people hold open doors for everyone, "ya'll" is said all the time and not made fun of, and sometimes that twang in peoples' voices will break through. I was "raised up beneath the shade of a Georgia pine."

My breakfast meal at Chick-Fil-A: Chicken biscuit, hashbrowns, and a Dr.Pepper.

While I was home, I had to work on a paper and do other homework, and of course had to do sorority stuff because my job is all paperwork for that. It was frustrating that I had to be doing work on what was supposed to be my weekend off. Yes, I procrastinated everything more than I should've, but the work just keeps on coming.

However, at home I was more focused, less tempted to be distracted, and more productive than I've been all semester at school.

I wish I woulda known earlier how home isn't as overrated as they say.

Yes, it can be overrated. Sometimes when I am home for weeks at a time I begin to get bored. My friends from home all migrate back and forth between their state schools, leaving me all alone many times while I am home. They always try to convince me to come visit them, and although sometimes I do because I get that bored, I always wish I was back at GW because GW is better in every single way. But I visit them (although they haven't visited me in the time we've been at college - I hope ALL OF YOU from RHS are reading this and feel guilty and plan trips to come visit me because I've come to see you!) because I'm bored and my couch gets less comfortable the more I sit and the TV shows don't seem to change as the time goes on.

My High School Logo - Go Hornets...

It's overrated. It's boring. It's the whole "I'm in college why should I be at home where there are rules?" attitude. Now, once I started college I didn't really have "rules" like back in high school, but it was still - "I don't usually go out till 11pm butI'm home and in bed already? I usually go to the liquor store at 20th and I and don't even need an ID to buy alcohol but here I can't even have a beer? I usually walk down the hall and chat with my friends about whatever crap college students talk about but now I'm home and my mom won't stop asking me about what I want to do tomorrow and in 5 minutes and for New Years..."

However, that last weekend at home made me really appreciate being there. As much as home is overrated when you've been living the cOlLeGe LiFe for a while, home is a place to relax and to have that break from that lifestyle. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but I realized how much I really do need a break from it every now and then. And I wish I woulda realized that sooner.

I literally got so much done while I was home it was ridiculous. Yes, I still had to finish some things when I got back to DC, but it was sooooo much less than I thought it was going to be. I could wake up at home and do two hours of work that would take me two weeks to do at school.

Also, I was able to eat my meals at normal times! Glorious! I got to have breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! And it was all good not the crap I usually eat. My mom is on some strange diet where she weighs her food and I was worried that I'd be eating pine nuts all weekend, but MJ didn't let me down - and she looks great (YAY MOM!). I had steak and chicken and got to eat at my favorite Chick-Fil-A.

And I got to sleep in - CRAZY I KNOW DON'T FREAK OUT. It was awesome.

I felt rejuvinated after that weekend. Now I don't feel like that because I have been back into my crazy lifestyle that I currently lead, but even just thinking about that weekend at home makes me super happy for a tiny bit. I got to just relax and not have to deal with anyone or anything for just a few days, and those few days were so needed.

I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving in a few weeks - and although I will be home for a week and I will get bored and think about how overrated being at home is, I know that eventually I will realize how awesome it is and how much I love it.
"And my house it's not much to talk about, but it's filled with love that's grown in southern ground." And sometimes I just need that "little bit of chicken fried."
But that still doesn't mean I'm ever moving back home - ever.

Always,
Caroline