Homesickness: A good sign?

I've been blogging for five years now, and I've noticed something interesting among the younger J-bloggers: Some of them, heading off for college in a location far from home, have cried on their first Shabbat in the dorm, while others seem unable to eat or sleep normally for a few days.

I checked with my husband, just to be sure, and, as I suspected, neither of us experienced anything like this when we left home for college.

And that's not necessarily anything to brag about.

The Punster and I were both late bloomers. Neither of us had a lot of friends and/or a decent social life to speak of. For both of us, going away to college was a great escape, an opportunity to go somewhere where no one knew us from Adam and we could start with a clean slate.

We had little to lose, and everything to gain.

Those who suffer from homesickness may, indeed, have much to gain, but they also have to give up more in the process.

If our own experience is any indication, homesickness may be an indication that the sufferer is, basically, a well-adjusted individual who's had a fairly happy childhood.