As I pulled up to my sister's driveway Friday afternoon and my 2-year-old nephew ran up to me with his arms stretched out, I fully realized what I'd been missing lately.
My sister and her family live just 45 minutes away and I've had a rule since my nephew was born that I wouldn't go more than two weeks without seeing them, but new hectic work schedules kept us apart for a month.
But when I heard my nephew exclaim, "Ki-ee!" (he can't quite say Kelly yet), it occurred to me how swamped I've been.
My parents instilled in me the importance of family when I was young. We ate together at the dinner table every night, called or visited our grandparents every week and said "I love you" every time we separated, hung up the phone or went to bed.
So how did I let so much time slip by?
This is one of the busiest summers of my life - I have an internship, I'm editor-in-chief of the Daily News and I'm taking an online course - so it's been really easy to go through the motions of my routine and not think about how much time has passed.
I got caught up in life.
Our society is so based on working and being connected 24/7 that we've lost site of what's important.
It's bad enough that adults go into this workaholic mode, but it's possibly even easier to fall into this trap in college.
Most of us are trying to balance work, school, extracurricular activities and social lives - all while being away from home for the first time.
Weeks go by fast, and before we know it, it's been months since we've visited home.
I believe in making connections with people at Ball State and not going home every weekend. But I realized this weekend how neglectful I've been.
If you've had a busy summer, you should take a moment and think about how long it's been since you've connected with your loved ones, whether it's your family, friends or whoever is important to you.
Chasing a toddler around all weekend actually helped me relax. Now I feel more refreshed and motivated for my work week.
Preparing ourselves for our careers and the real world are important, but not as important at remembering what's important in life.
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