Strangely I find myself missing my mom these past few days. Maybe it's because I've been gone for a longer period of time for this trip, or maybe because I'm beginning to realize that I'm growing up and college is approaching--that once I return I will have but five days to spend with her before going away again. I use to love the thought of freedom...the thought that she wouldn't be around me to care and pick on just about everything that I do. But lately I've been feeling quite apprehensive about a life without her around me 24/7. There will be nobody who pesters me about eating, about homework, about my mistakes, about my flaws, about my actions the way a mother does. Yes it is amazingly irritating and difficult to withstand most of the time, but this trip has taught me that I need her annoyingness, even if it drives me crazy. I guess this is one of those "sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone" type of moments.