Leaving Home....and Rachy

Two days before I left for college, I had a really weird, well I’m not entirely sure what it was. I wasn’t asleep, but I was trying to get there, since I was moving pipe at six the next morning. Anyway, in my mind’s eye I could see my baby sister, Rachy, staring up at me as we stood in the kitchen of my new apartment (odd, since I hadn’t ever seen it) and asking me ‘Why’ I wasn’t going home with them. Just the image of her confused, hurt face set me off and I cried for an hour, at least. I thought I had succeeded in muffling my sobs in my pillow…but the next morning at breakfast Dad revealed that he and Mom knew exactly how I felt about leaving. The next few days were so stressful, with packing and the drive down, that I really didn’t pay too much attention to how I was feeling. There wasn’t room for sadness. In fact, I was almost relieved when my family drove away. That lasted about three days. Then my mom called me to answer one of my questions, and she told me that Rachy had been asking where ‘Gecka’ was and saying that she wanted me to ‘tome home’ On top of that, Mom asked me where my graduation announcements were. When I asked why she needed them, the reply was that Rachy had taken the one off the fridge and was carrying it around the house, constantly pointing to my pictures and asking where I was. Then Mom threw in the clincher—my baby sister, who refused to sleep with a stuffed animal, or a doll, was sleeping with that graduation announcement. She wouldn’t go to bed without it. My lack of homesickness quickly vanished. I was more than a big sister to Rachy; I had been her roommate for over a year. She was used to ME being the last face she saw before she fell asleep. And suddenly I was gone. Needless to say, I have yet to recover from leaving her. In fact, I still have cravings to see her---only her!!!!!!!!!!!!