Winner for November 2008

Living at Home
By Spencer Requa

“A Simply Amazing TCU Student Housing Story—Living at Home”

What is it about a home that makes it the most amazing place on earth? Sure, when we are at home all we wish to do is escape into the world. But that never lasts very long, and soon enough we are ready to return to our own homes and sleep in our own beds again, happy to be back where we belong. For TCU students, a home can be a place of rest and relaxation, or maybe a place of great food and conversation, or to some, a place of shelter and forgiveness. My home encompasses all of these beautiful niceties of life, proving to me that home is the greatest place on earth.

Few people in this world would say that college is easy, and I definitely would not say that. I would say, however, that after a really tough day at TCU filled with VSEPR Theory and trigonal bipyramidal modeling, nothing soothes my body, mind, and spirit more than returning home to plop down on my couch that practically swallows me up in comfort as I drift away from the land of molecules and into a world of endless possibilities. My home helps me to remember the little pleasures in life, something which many in this world have forgotten altogether.

As a TCU student, my home has much more to offer than just walls and furniture. For it is filled with the wonderful smells of home-baked breads spreading through the rooms and the sizzling sounds chicken fried steak, luring my nose to the dinner table where my aunt, with whom I am living, has prepared the most magnificent meal that my stomach has ever growled at. Along with the spectacular dinner comes stimulating conversation from my family, each person waiting anxiously to voice their own opinion on the subject. I am grateful to be around such well-educated people, as I am able to gain a thousand times more knowledge from their life experiences than I would have ever received on my own in a classroom.

Life can be scary at times, often throwing us in directions we were never intended to go. William J. Bennett once said, “Home is a shelter from storms--all sorts of storms.” Home is by far the greatest place to take a step back and regroup, seeking a safe haven and healing from our problems. My home is no different. I find it entirely amazing how I can put up emotional walls that block my feelings when I am out in the world, but as soon as I am home those walls come crashing down and I can truly begin to recover from my tribulations as I confide in those around me who will not judge me nor seek to gain from my failures.

For some, living on campus at TCU is best. For others, living in a TCU student apartment works great. But for me, my home is the most amazing place on earth simply because it is where I am happiest. And wherever I am happiest must be the most amazing place on earth. At my home, everything is simple and easy, otherwise it just wouldn’t be home.