NICHE

I leave tomorrow to go back to the West coast.
I've been waiting for this stint in Chicago all fall. Ever since that night waaay back in September when I hugged my dad goodbye outside my temporary dorm I've been so excited to come back to Chicago. I joked all fall that I'd spent all of one week at home over all of 2008, but behind all those jokes was a giant case of homesickness.
And home hasn't let me down. Not really. I mean, I don't really have my own space right now (thanks to the Taiwanese exchange student living with us) and I don't have anything really besides my computer and my sheep. and I was only here for two weeks. But I enjoyed my stay.
I found myself randomly going up and hugging my mother in the middle of cooking dinner (something my brother would do, but not me) and I found myself purposely going and playing cards or reading around the family.
We Urbans might joke that I'm the grouchy one of the family and that I get cranky rather easily but it's nice to have my niche. Even if when I'm never quite sure what bed I'm sleeping in or I grumble about too many people, I love my home.