Bitter-Sweet Realities Of Living Far Away From Your Family

When I moved to Boise I instantly fell in love with the city and most of the out of state transplant folks I've met love the Treasure Valley love it here as much as I do.  When I saw Though Catalog's list of realities of living away from your fam, I realized how true they are.

I moved to Boise five years ago and every year that I go back to Youngstown, Ohio for Christmas it starts to feel a little less like "home" with the exception of my mom and dad still living there.  These five realities from the list rang really true for me.

Sometimes you have to use your “vacation” time to see your family and well, it doesn’t always feel like a vacation. I save most of my vacation time to use at Christmas every year and sometimes being in Ohio is more exhausting than being at work.  I have my actual family to catch up with, in addition to my radio family that knew me when I was just a little baby DJ.  Oh and of course, my old track/cross country teammates who were like my third family are in town for the holidays too.  By the time I crash on my sofa back in Boise, I realize that I haven't really done any relaxing at all...but I wouldn't trade seeing those people for anything in the world.

When you get homesick, you really get homesick. Funny thing about me and my boyfriend?  We're both from Ohio.  We lived an hour or so from each other for years, but didn't meet until we were watching a Cleveland Browns game at the same place in Boise.  He's headed back to Ohio to deal with some family stuff this month and passing through my hometown.  In my head I'm running through a list of all my old stomping grounds he just HAS TO visit.  My favorite sandwich shop, Handel's Ice Cream, the Dunkin' Donuts I used to go to every single day... I love Boise, but sometimes I really miss the places I used to hang out/eat/run at.

There is a special kind of loneliness that will always creep in when you spend particular holidays without your family. I hate Thanksgiving.  I'm going to put that out there.  I can't stand Turkey Day.  Why?  Because 99% of my friends are from Boise.  Their families still live in Boise.  They spend Thanksgiving with their families.  I spend it alone making a "Friendsgiving" meal hoping that some of my friends will stop by afterward to eat turkey and stuffing with me.  I normally don't get super lonely without family here, but Thanksgiving totally bums me out.

For you, “home” is about people and not places.  I forget who I was talking to last Christmas, but I was talking about Boise and I said "back at home" and they looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head.  It took me a minute to realize it's because I was in Ohio calling Idaho home.  I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but "home" is where all my crap is...and my friends...and my job.  Therefore, Boise has become "home."

Your relationship with your siblings will change. And you will have to make an effort to get to know who they are in the present. Whoa did my little sister make this one obvious to me this past year.  We were only two year's apart growing up, but were into very different things and very different groups of people despite sharing the same house and high school.  She's grown up and become a young woman who really knows what she stands for and doesn't back down from it.  I also admire how dedicated she is to her school work as she completes her program to become a Physician's Assistant.  I barely made it through four years of college because I was so eager to get out in the real world and my career.  It takes a lot of patience to do what she's doing.   I'm really proud of who she's become!

Can you relate to these?  Check out rest of the list on Though Catalog.