Friday, June 18, 2010

When Did You Know?

I was 18 when I got a taste of freedom. Left home to go to Seton Hill College in Greensburg, PA. It was the first time I'd ever really been away from home for a long stay, and it really was the last time I felt that my parents' home was my home. Not that it wasn't homey or I wasn't welcome. It's just that I clearly defined a new space as "mine," albeit I shared the huge, wood-floored, ex-convent room with three other girls.

The summer after freshman year I went home again,but when offered a job at the beach with my sister, packed up quickly and stayed from June till late August. Our visits home felt just like that: visits. At the end of my sophomore year, during which I had my own private room on campus, I went home again, only to hunt for an apartment to share with my good friend, Kelly. On her meager income as a Western Auto Parts cashier, and my piddly pence as a waitress in a poorly-located, overpriced Holiday Inn, we could only afford a 2-room apartment in the heart of the city . We lived on 33rd Street, diagonal to Union Memorial Hospital. We had no kitchen and nowhere but the bathtub to do our dishes. But it was our home. She stayed for three months, I stayed for nine. (I made her keep her end of the lease for the remaining six. I couldn't afford her half of the $220 rent.)

When you left home to make your own home, how old were you , and what were the circumstances? Marriage? College? Career? Just curious.

6 comments:

Leanne said...

First time living away from home... I moved onto campus with a friend for my sophomore year of college (commuted my freshman year from my parents' home). I lived there for a couple summers after that, but it was never really "home" again. Lived on campus until the end of my senior year (kitchen-less too!) and got an apt with some girls from church (at which point I changed my "permanent" address).

Laurie said...

Preface: I LOVE my parents.
When I was 18, my parents "moved me out" of their house. (I think I was driving my Mom crazy!) This move was the best thing and the timing and location was perfect! (Amazing story to me, but too complicated to go into detail), but line it up with how the Lord was working in my life: calling me to believe, introducing Mike, moving me to an apartment just a block from the Chapel I'd been visiting etc., and it adds up to a time I look back on and clearly see (and feel) God's hand in all the details; details I was too naive to even concern myself with, but God had worked out in His good timing, goodness and pleasure. I'll stop there, but add this: I often remind myself that the unfolding of God's good plan then is the way He works still today!

"To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:4,7

Thanks for the story , Zoanna!
Wow! No kitchen and doing dishes in the tub!! What a woman!
Love the blog look!

Danielle said...

I left home at 18 to go to a 6 month internship with HSLDA. Then I came back for the summer and went to college in Tenn. for a year before coming back to go to York College and live at home to complete my college degree. I didn't really want to do this, but due to a mix up over financial aide by the college in Tenn. which would have required me to take out more loans than I thought wise. Hence, I came home to go to school locally. Both experiences were great for me!

Amy said...

like you, I left home at 18 to go to college--and for the next four years never lived there longer than 3 weeks at a time, since I took summer jobs away (two summers traveling on a ministry team, two summers interning for a nonprofit in CO). after the last internship (post-graduation) I ended up moving back home for 10 months until I got married (I was engaged but Steve was still in school). so then moving out forever was when we got married, when I was 23.

Rachelle said...

growing up my granny told me to marry a man with working hands...I figure it had more to do with her love for my grandad's hands, and the fact that he was a good hard working man,than anything.

hope your vacay is going splendidly... :)

zz said...

I've always admired my dad's hands. He has directed choirs, drawn diagrams to explain engineering stuff that's "over my head," and has
hoed many a row in the garden, fed horses, milked cows, rocked babies, cleaned up vomit and blood, changed tires, washed dishes, moved furniture, rubbed Mama's feet, made Cream of Wheat, and solved math problems with the late great Wilt Chamberlain at KU . I guess they represent everything I admire about him--compassion,hard work, and brains.