I basically shoved them out the door during the move-in day freshman year, and told them I didn’t want a dramatic send off. The car ride up had been filled with enough tear jerking moments where they told me how happy they were for me. Finally they had moved everything in, my mom had finished reorganizing my drawers (even though I thought throwing all of my clothes in worked fine) and my dad had given me last pieces of fatherly advice: “Be open to new experiences, make good choices…”. So when I chocked back tears to make what I thought would’ve been an exciting and easy goodbye, that was the moment that I would become forever closer with my parents than I had even been when we lived in the same house.
I was fortunate growing up, in the sense that I had wonderful parents as my supporters, sports fans, and confidants. That said, they also served as those who were able to say the word “disappointed” and there was simply no worse word to ever leave their mouths. Even when I would call them “friends” they would abruptly remind me that they were my “parents”, not my friends.
College changed this. As busy as I was meeting people, getting involved, going to sports games, I made an effort to call or be in contact with my parents everyday. This effort soon turned into me calling them when I was on the Newton bus home, or walking up the million dollar stairs completely out of breath trying to explain to them how tired I was, or coming out of a test and trying not to freak out that I ran out of time. They were the ones who grounded me when my feelings got the best of me, and were the ones to make me feel better after things didn’t necessarily go as planned.
It is easy to think we are independent and self-supporting people when we reach college. I used to wish I was my parents when I was younger so that I could eat another cookie if I wanted to. At college, we don’t have our parents to turn off the TV for bedtime or to tell us to not watch the fifth episode of the day of House of Cards. And while this freedom is nice, we gain and incredible amount of responsibility in a short time, and sometimes wish we had our parents guidance to turn off the TV or go to bed at a certain time.
I want to think that I am self-sufficient; yet, I wouldn’t hide the fact that I have already called my mom twice this morning and sent my dad an email to call me later. Maybe I wouldn’t have shoved them out the door that day, and perhaps have had lunch with them because there are no two people I am more grateful for everyday, and there is no better time than just talking to them throughout the day almost like they are with me through this entire journey.
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