I have never had to try so hard to hold back so many tears as I did on that short two hour flight from
I had never been away from my mother for more than five days at once, and even during those short spaces of time I was usually consumed by homesickness. It was no wonder I was beginning to rethink my decision to live with an aunt and uncle I barely knew in order to clean beach houses alongside my cousin whom I also barely knew. Too bad these doubts had come just a little too late.
My whole trip had begun about a year earlier, although I didn’t know it then. I had gone to
The trip itself should have been great. I was staying in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I was being allowed into houses I would never be able to afford in my wildest dreams and being paid for it. The people I was working with were extraordinary women who I would never forget. I should have been happy, but I wasn’t. The ocean was still beautiful, but it was clouded by my deep longing to be back home with the people I loved the most in life. The magic that this place had once held for me was gone now that I wasn’t there with someone I loved.
The month that I spent up there was one of the longest and hardest months of my life. I was living comfortably, but I was not truly known or loved up there. There was no one who I could really be myself around and it became exhausting walking on eggshells all the time. That’s why I was so excited to see my mother at the end of that long, summer month. I knew she loved me for who I was and that simple comfort had never meant more to me than it did when I stepped off of that plane and into her arms. I was home.
That trip taught me so many things about myself and what is really important in life. I found a strength that I had never known I had and I realized that nothing in life can mean anything unless you are able to share it with someone you love. I now see the value of living and being loved unconditionally and I have never been happier.
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