As the season of giving rolls around the corner, so does the rush of indolent college students coming home, ready to be catered to by their all-too-loving parents. If you have older siblings you know the feeling of seeing their car rolling in back from college. There are pros and cons to hearing that knock on your door as everyone in your family rushes to hug your older brother or sister
So, what is it that makes these few weeks so special? Here’s my take, to start, parents try to cook as many of their best meals before sending their child off to the dining hall of doom. The cabinet is full of Cheez-Its and Doritos -that you barely get a chance to eat- and a constant cycle of leftovers passes through your fridge.
Eventually, your long-needed break finally arrives and the fun begins. You start to adapt to your sibling’s college sleep schedule – up past midnight and out past noon.
All you can think about is how excited you are to wake up on Christmas morning—the one day you’re up before 10. When the morning of the 25th finally comes, you’re taken right back to your childhood. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t seen your siblings in months; it still feels as if your little kids are beaming with joy as you tear open your new toys and trinkets.
The next few days go by, and your siblings are nowhere to be found. The college schedule doesn’t halt just because they are back home; in fact, they go out more because all of their hometown friends are home.
It’s not just the college sleep schedule that comes back but also the lifestyle and disregard for cleanliness – especially in the bathroom. The cabinet is not an all-you-can-eat buffet like the dining hall they are used to. You would also think that after spending so much time in a community bathroom they would have learned how to organize their things and stop leaving the toothpaste cap off – that’s certainly not the case though.
You can’t stay too mad though, you only have a few weeks left and don’t want to spend the time-fighting. Besides, who else is going to go pick up your friends when Mom says she’s too tired to drive?
During those long car rides to pick up that one friend who lives 25 minutes away, you rush to grab the aux cord so you can show off all the new music you found while they were gone. When it’s their turn to play music you try to slyly add the songs to your playlist and pretend like you’ve heard them before.
This is also your time to catch up and hear about all the new drama that has been stirring: breakups, new couples, the Snapchat group chat, and everything in between. It’s cool to see the differences between high school and college drama.
Eventually, your short break comes to an end, and it’s time to go back to school. You say goodnight to your siblings, jealous that they still have 2 more weeks to sleep in. It may be 9:30 at night but as you get ready to rest your eyes, your sibling is getting ready to go spend the night at a friend’s house.
How unfair, I get a measly week and a half before I have to go back to chemistry bright and early, and they get to go spend their Sunday night doing fun things with friends.
You know that eventually, it will be your turn to have these few weeks off but it doesn’t provide much comfort. Your alarm will still go off at 6:00 am the next morning. Hopefully, you managed to crawl out of bed not too crusted-eyed and freezing. The next few weeks might be a drag but at least you will have your siblings for company.
As much as you struggle it will be nothing compared to your sibling’s readjustment back to college. You hug them goodbye and wish them luck with those 8:00 am classes. As jealous as you may be you are glad that you got to have a few extra weeks and are counting down the days until the next time they come home.
W.C : 717
