What is a good metaphor for someone or something that leaves home but in the end they always return – I was writing a college application essay?

In sum, a metaphor is a figure of speech that expresses some type of comparison between two unrelated things that share some common features such as being “the black sheep of the family” when someone is neither black nor a sheep. Some useful metaphors that can be used for this type of situation include someone who “boomerangs” between reckless adventures and the comfort and safety of home or who “flew the coop” but “returns to the nest” following an absence before they reach a “point of no return.” Perhaps the most well-known example of this type of behavior is contained in the Parable of the Lost Son (“The Prodigal Son”) described in the New Testament at Luke 15:11-21:22 which provides a useful example of individuals who return home after an absence, typically after engaging in activities that were disapproved of by their families such as being “three sheets to the wind.”