there's no place like home

When I was a little girl, my very favorite movie was The Wizard of Oz. I have undoubtedly seen it thousands of times. I idolized Dorothy and those ruby slippers of hers (I was even gifted with a pair of my own for a birthday). I dreamt of flying somewhere over the rainbow and going to the Emerald City.

The message in The Wizard of Oz is a simple yet profound one: there's no place like home.

Just like I found myself doing when I was a little girl, chanting that line over and clicking my heels together, I find myself wishing magic like that actually existed and I could click myself back home.

Or that I still had those ruby slippers of mine...

Just last week, my best friend has accused me of being happy and it felt really good to be out on my own, with things coming together, and no hint of homesickness to be felt. I thought if I could just survive that first week, everything else would be smooth sailing.

I was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

Two weeks in and I'm miserable. I'm overwhelmed. I'm feeling defeated. I'm feeling completely and utterly homesick. There's that dull ache in my chest that yearns to go back home and see those shining, familiar faces; to be embraced by those I love and cherish.

There is an overwhelming pull to get my life back.

My old life filled with familiar, friendly faces. Filled with routines and stability; comfort and peace. That is what I yearn most for in this sea of changes.

The new job seems to be sucking the life right from me. This city and it's massive amounts of people and traffic seem to be driving me to the brink. And I've decided graduate school is surely code for hell, they just charge more for the price of admission.

In trying to survive all of that in one horrible week has left me simply with the urge to return home and be taken in by loved ones. Sympathized with and given promises of hope. I need their strength to carry me through the next week and the next.

Even if that means a 3.5 hour drive each way. The pull is too strong; the urge too hard to ignore; and the ache in my chest only growing with each hour that I am not within the familiar bonds of my home.

So, I will be clicking my ruby slippers together in the morning, because, after all:

there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...