WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1999

Family appreciation grows with adulthood, distance

As a product of a somewhat sheltered childhood, I knew that college would be my opportunity to get away and spread my wings.

Even though my mother struggled with the thought of the empty nest syndrome, she pushed me to go away to college. She knew that by urging me to go away to school I would benefit in the long run.

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Tyler Hemstreet

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So I moved from the small Northern California town of Menlo Park to the thriving suburb of Long Beach.

Living away from your family teaches independence, makes you appreciate your childhood home and family more and entitles you to special treatment when you do come home and visit.

If you can get through the initial shock of not having any family members within 400 miles of you in times of need, then you can feel the satisfaction of doing things on your own.

Living away from your family teaches you self- reliability. This involves making your own choices based on what little experience you have attained in your journey out of the big nest. It also involves making mistakes and dealing with the consequences and trying to learn from them.

The importance of applying social skills to make new friends comes in handy without a family core to depend on for support.

When I do go home and see my family after I have been away, it makes me appreciate them that much more.

Before I used to take my parents and sisters for granted, but now the time I spend with them at home is restful and therapeutic.

It is a breath of fresh air compared to the career and school-oriented fast life that I live each day. Being away from Menlo Park also makes me appreciative of the slower pace of life in my hometown.

And who can forget the best part of going home- getting spoiled rotten. A refrigerator full of food, warm meals, paid trips to the mall for whatever I need and lots of attention.

Family time in the correct doses gives me a reason to come back to the seemingly endless journey to finish college.

Tyler Hemstreet is a journalism major at CSULB.