Hannah Swenson
Staying Home or Moving Away

Emma, a high school senior stood in her kitchen baking chocolate chip cookies with her best friend Sophia. As the girls sipped their hot chocolate they made earlier, Sophia began weighting out options on whether or not to stay home for college, or move away. Emma was in tears, because she was worried about how her decision would affect her. Sophia hugged Emma and told her everything would work out just fine, they were in this together. Sophia had made the decision to move out, but she was having second thoughts. Sophia unpacked her room the day she was supposed to move five hours away from her parent’s house. Sophia stood in her newly unpacked room and felt a sudden rush of relief through her body. Sophia’s mom and dad walked into her room and told her that because she was an adult now she would be given more freedom. Suddenly Sophia’s decision to stay home throughout college felt right. Sophia laid in Emma’s bed for their weekly sleepovers and began weighing out the pros and cons with her. Sophia told Emma that if she lived with her parents she wouldn’t have the responsibility of paying her own bills, cooking for herself, and she would have the constant support of her family throughout the continuation of her education. Emma knew that all of Sophia’s facts were valid, but what Emma mostly wanted was more freedom. Emma was fed up with weekend chores and explaining to her parents where she was going and what she was doing. The next morning the two girls sat at the dining room table drinking freshly squeezed orange juice Emma’s mom made. Emma made a final decision out loud to her family. She told them that with the help of Sophia she knew it would be beneficial for her to stay at home and live with her family. Emma wanted more freedom, but with freedom comes more responsibilities that she wasn’t ready for just yet. Sophia and Emma’s parents hugged Emma and told her they were happy to have her for longer. Living with your family and living on your own is like living in two different worlds. Living with your parents can bring a lot of wonderful advantages; however, when one chooses to live with their parents they’re giving up their freedom. Like Emma and Sophia, living on their own is too much to take on when they were given a simpler alternation of living at home. It can be a huge weight off your shoulders when you’re growing up, adding your education to the top of your priorities, and also working. There’s so many expenses that you have to take on when you decide to move out. Liam, a good friend of the girls’ stood in the driveway of his parent’s house with all of his belongings in the bed of his old pickup. Liam’s parents hugged him goodbye and handed him cash for gas. Liam drove away listening to the country station on his beat up radio. A few hours later Liam unlocked the doors to his very own apartment. Liam had a difficult home life and wanted to start a new life for himself. Liam had two jobs in line and registered himself to take 18 credits. Liam knew when he moved out that it wasn’t going to be easy, but every part of the experience was rewarding to him. Mason, a friend of Liam’s picked up Emma and Sophia for a road trip to go check up on Liam. They sipped on beers and ate pizza, and talked about how that was something they could never do at home. Emma and Sophia were both envious, but they threw in the boys’ faces how they