Family visits

My mom drove to Berkeley yesterday to help me with my move-out preparations because I won't have a lot of time between finals and moving out to clean everything up. She deep-cleaned my kitchen, finished the dishes, took out tons of garbage, helped me pack, and steam-cleaned my carpets! Cleaning isn't my thing, so I was VERY appreciative, especially since tomorow morning she's going to LA/OC for her aunt's funeral and everything at work is hectic for her right now.

I missed like five social events but didn't feel all that bad, considering the benefits my mother was giving me and the time we got to spend together. My mom will do anything for me and my sister, and I fail to see that and let her see that I see that far too often.

When I come back from Italy, I'm going to try to go home once every 4-5 weeks. No more being the well-loved but never-there child, missing all the birthdays, the family events, the homecomings, the dinners. I don't hate my family, just the way things are going in the town I grew up in, which is getting worse and worse every time I go back.

I guess I'm leaving my teenaged self-identity formation phase of my life.