My Home Away From Home

Last weekend my best friend Jenny came to visit for the 4th of July weekend.  How we met is a story that never gets old and in my opinion was an act of God.  Meeting Jenny at orientation and spending 2 days together, I knew she could be a future friend.  Unfortunately our plan to exchange information before we left for home had failed.  I left saddened knowing I had met an amazing person and had no way of reaching her. Summer continued to go by and on move-in day, after hours of moving, we opened our dorm room doors at the same time to discover our "long lost friend" was suddenly across the hall.  Of all the dorms and all the floors at Michigan State, we were assigned rooms directly across from each other.  Coincidence or an act of God? I like to think of it as fate.  God knew we would enrich each others lives. Since the day we met, our friendship has been a special bond.  A sister-like friendship where we constantly look out for each other.

Lately I have been battling inside about a lot of things going on in my life.  It is easy for me to get distracted with my personal life and when this happens I try to look elsewhere for strength and guidance. Jenny's visit could not have come at a better time.  I was in desperate need of a "breath of fresh air" to distract me and re-energize me for a few days.  The whole weekend was spent together.  We giggled, shared stories, reminisced about our college days and told our newest secrets.  We had "girl time" at its finest.

Having friends like Jenny are pertinent in staying balanced.  They tell us things we may not want to hear, can read our thoughts and emotions without speaking a word, and make you feel like you are never being judged. As busy girls in two different cities, Jenny and I are able to pick up right where we left off despite going years without seeing each other.  Spending time with Jenny reminds me of unforgettable times and reminds me of home.

Home has been two places for me, my hometown and Michigan State.  My hometown will always be my real home, but Michigan State and Chicago are homes to me as well.  Jenny will always be apart of my Michigan State home.  Living with her for four years, she was not only my roommate but my family.  When you are away from home (wherever that may be), we need people who make you feel at home, who give you that warm "fuzzy" feeling deep inside.  Someone to console you, praise you, push you and look after you, so you don't ever feel like you are alone.  My friends and boyfriend are my support system and I don't know what I would do without them.

Home is what you make of it and it is the people you surround yourself with that make up your home.  Friends are like the walls of a home.  They protect us from the outside world and build us up from the ground up.  We are the foundation of our home, but a home is nothing without its walls and a roof.  However, our walls are only as durable and strong as the relationships that they are made of.  Sometimes it is easy to forget what makes us so strong.  I don't ever want to lose my support system.  I need to continue to strengthen my relationships with the people I care for so that they never fall down and leave me, because my home is not a home without them.


A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse