We’ve All Been There: Home For The Weekend

"Mom! Can you bring me some ice cream??"

It’s your last class of the week and it’s creeping by even more slowly than usual. You flip through your stack of Power Point slides. Twelve pages to go and only twenty minutes left in the class. There’s no way you’ll get out of here on time thanks to that ass in the front row who raises his hand every 3 minutes.

You aren’t paying much attention to the prof (why should you? You’ve got the entire lecture printed out in front of you) and instead are counting down the minutes until you’re back home for the weekend eating your mom’s famous burgers and showering without flip flops.

Class finally ends and you run back to the dorm. You only have an hour to pack before you need to hit the road. You dig your suitcase out from under your bed (“That’s where my round brush went!”) and throw it open. You don’t need a lot for your two day retreat; you don’t plan on doing much besides lay around on your parents’ couch and raid the pantry. You toss in a few pairs of sweats, one nice outfit (because your mom has made it clear that she didn’t buy you all those nice jeans to have them sit in the closet) and some very basic toiletries. You’ll just use mom’s shampoo/ conditioner/ hair dryer/ makeup… if the need arises.

There is still plenty of room left in your bag so you drag your laundry bag out of your closet and start filling up the suitcase with your dirties. You’re sure your mother’s empty-nest syndrome will be alleviated with a few loads of your laundry. And if nothing else, at least you’ll be able to do it for free.

Once your bag is zipped – which required a lot of pushing and a gallon of sweat – you change into something that won’t leave your mom yelling at you for looking like a hobo, dab on a little makeup, throw the necessary books/laptop into your messenger bag and head out.

You enjoy a nice a relaxing weekend at home filled with “I missed you” hugs, binge drinking lectures and your mom shoving food down your throat whenever she can. You eat 5 solid meals, take 25 minute (hot!) showers and wake up well rested after 14 hours of much needed rest to find your laundry has not only been done, but folded! Despite a few typical tiffs with the siblings (“OMG! I was wondering what happened to that skirtyou little thief!”), it feels great to be home and the weekend goes by far too quickly.  Sunday afternoon eventually rolls around and it’s time to head back to campus.

But not without some rations. As you head out the door, your mother hands you a bag filled to the brim with your favorite foods: giant Tupperwares filled with her chicken noodle soup, a few loaves of your favorite bread, and homemade chocolate chip cookies that you know will elevate your social status in the dorm the moment you return.

As you kiss your parents goodbye and head back to school you feel cleaner, fuller and better rested than ever.

Yeah, we’ve all been there….
But we kept all those cookies to ourselves.