Home Is Where the Heart Is

By Vanja Pantic | VOX Staff

Art by Felicia Lankford and Thinh Vu | VOX Staff

I’ve always been incredibly grateful for the comfort of my own home. Growing up, I was never one of those kids who would spend the whole day at someone else’s house – my friends were always at mine. As a child, I didn’t really understand why they always wanted to come over to my house to hang out; I didn’t realize that a home-cooked meal, a clean environment and a caring mom drew them to my doorstep.

Homesick
Now that I’m in high school and I’m more independent, I should probably be conforming to the standard of not wanting to be at home – going out all the time, fighting with my parents and anxiously waiting to leave for college. But I’m not. Sure, I go out with my friends, and I can’t wait for college (I mean, who wants to be stuck in high school any longer?), but it’s for all the right reasons.

While some of my friends can’t wait for college because it presents the prospect of leaving home and being on their own, and doing whatever they please far from their parent’s surveillance, I’m not as happy about that aspect of leaving home.

Home is where I am always comforted — where my mom encapsulates all the good in the world, including the positive, supportive and hopeful aspects of my every day. While some of my friends turn to drugs and people in their social circle (whom they’re not even sure they can trust) to help them solve problems, give advice, listen and have a good time with, I know that I will always have a best friend at home.

Close to Home
I really appreciate everything my mom has done for me over the years. It’s always amazed me that she can juggle so many things at once, from school meetings and work to making me lunch, helping me with homework and taking me shopping. My mom is always busy and on-the-go, yet she always manages to dedicate the majority of her time to me.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a spoiled kid who grew up sheltered from the world. My mom is the reason I’m open-minded, caring and involved. Not only did she allow me to make my own life decisions, such as those regarding religion, she also taught me about the different views on issues around the world, allowing me to develop my own opinions. So, while other 8-year-olds were being forced to go to church, moaning and complaining all the way there, I was spending quality time with my mom, exploring the different facets of the world around me.

My mom’s trust is a big part of our relationship, as well. It’s sort of like that cliché: don’t lose a person’s trust because it’s hard to regain. As a kid, and even now, I’ve had more freedoms than restrictions. I think that helped a lot growing up, because I never really had a reason to retaliate, be mad, or want to close myself off from my mom.

My friend Claudia* didn’t have that trust or freedom; now when she goes out to drink, her mom thinks that she’s at “slumber parties.” That kind of deceit and ignorance is something I never had to face, and I think it’s made me a more honest, caring and outgoing person. I’ve always had someone supportive by my side, and even when things like school became stressful and hard to deal with, I had a reason to keep persevering.

Above and Beyond
I was only 4 when we left war-torn Bosnia, so I didn’t really grasp what was happening at the time. My mom, however, was a grown woman who was leaving everything she knew and felt comfortable around to ensure that my future wouldn’t be engulfed in political turmoil and recovery from war. She wanted my life to be much more. So she, with a firm grip on my small, 4-year-old hand, left the country, the culture, and the family which comprised her life for years.

My mom’s been there for me through everything: overcoming language barriers, doing well in school, driving me around from one place to another, listening to my problems, reading college essays, crying with joy alongside me when I got into my first-choice college, and helping me cope with anything and everything else that comes my way. I don’t really talk to others about a lot of personal issues, but I feel like that’s a good thing. I know I have someone to vent to, to share joy and accomplishments with, and to get advice from – a person who I know I can trust, who is always there for me, and who provides better advice than anyone else could ever give me.

I’m grateful for everything my mom has done, and continues to do, for me. I’m thankful for my close relationship with my mom, and for the fact that I know whenever I need comforting, she’s there for me (and vice versa).