237 hours.

I haven't been home in nearly 8 months.

And it's not because my parents don't love me.

It's because they love/trust me enough to let me make my own decisions.

It's also because I made the decision when I was 17 and fed up with Bend/high school/life that I wanted to go 2000 miles away from home for school. At the time, it was the perfect distance. I relished the idea of being independent and away from home. I couldn't wait to start living my own life. And at the time, hearing that I would have to be away from Bend for 8 months was just the icing on the cake.

And now here I am. I'll be back home in roughly 237 hours. I've learned a lot about myself. And now I'm ready to go home.

I think something that I have realized the most since I left home is that even though you hate it sometimes, home is home.

After senior year, I was so fed up with Bend. Events happened that summer that just made me want to leave even more. I never wanted to go back.

But that was over a year ago.

I've realized that I'm not a mid-west kind of girl. I miss mountains and oceans. I'm also not a city girl. Believe it or not, I got sick of staring at a brick wall for nearly a year. I can't wait to go home and see some beautiful pine trees, breathe in fresh air and drive 10 miles without seeing a single cornfield.

I can't wait to see my family and friends. And my ponies and kitties. And my replacement.

I've been waiting for this time for so long - I can't even begin to describe how surreal it is to know that I will be home in just over a week. 11 days left so serve of my self inflicted 238 day sentence.

If I had the choice, I really don't think that I would do it again. But I am glad that I have had this experience.

Everything that I've been working for is finally paying off. I found myself a job, moved to one of the biggest cities in the country by myself, I survived summer in St. Louis, I moved back to Columbia, I was granted Missouri residency, I was accepted in to my journalism sequence, I've found a great charity to volunteer with and I'll be moving in to the sorority next semester.

I am just so excited to be almost home. Which I'm sure you can tell by now.

Only 237 more hours!!!!