You Do Not Need To Leave The Nest Forever

First off, my family is amazing, which makes leaving them that more difficult. At seventeen, I had to make the decision like other high schoolers, to leave the nest and go to college. Being the first one in my immediate and extended family to go to a University proved challenging; homesickness ran rampant in my dorm room and attacked me daily. I found myself going home every weekend. What upset me was the fact that people thought that me going home was a bad thing. I always felt that if you have a good family, why not be with them?

My Dad and Mom

Now that I am older, I realize that I was not exactly prepared to leave home that young and neither were my parents. Homesickness to this day continues to invade my heart as an adult. Soon after I graduated college, I joined Teach For America (TFA) and was shipped to Arizona. Once again, I had to leave the security of my hometown in order to chase my dreams and give back to a community that had similar demographics to my own. Although I should have been well-acquainted with my friend loneliness, leaving home the second time was worse - not only family was left behind. My fiancee, now husband, still needed to wrap up his honors thesis and decided to stay at UC Irvine a fifth year. I kicked myself the first year I served in TFA for not staying a fifth year in college with my sweetheart; we could have visited Paris and studied abroad! Obviously, I was just thinking romantically, but it sounded so much sexier than what I was dealing with as a first year teacher. 

Jorge and I at my graduation party. He thought we were just making funny poses, but that is how I actually felt about leaving.

I learned valuable lessons by being away from the people I loved. I became one with all my strengths and weakness. No, I wouldn't want to re-live this experience, but it was necessary to making me a better leader, wife, daughter, sister and friend. 

The worst mistake that I made during my TFA experience was holding out on calling home. Life was so dreadful that I did not want to burden my family with the misery I was enduring. I felt that I didn't have the right to vent, since I had the bright idea to join TFA in the first place. I later broke down and contradicted everything I had believed in for a whole year - I finally told my parents why I wasn't calling home. They couldn't believe my ridiculous thinking. In the end, I actually hurt my parents more by keeping them in the dark for a year about how I truly felt.

Second year in TFA has proven to be much more enjoyable. I improved my communication with my family and friends. I got the bolas to cut off people that weren't supportive of me, while nurturing relationships with others that reciprocated my loyalty.  Above all, Jorge and I were married in October!  Since he moved to Arizona, my husband Jorge has tried his best to keep loneliness at bay, but we both miss home. We embrace homesickness as a reminder that our journey away from home is not going to last forever. Continuing our education is mandatory, but as soon as we are finished there is no doubt that we will be jumping on the first flight home! 

All of my amazing family and friends!