Healing after Holidays:
A tribute to Emory freshmen’s first winter breaks in college, and how we made it through
“DON’T DRINK IN HIGH SCHOOL!”
My friend yelled to her underage brother, chunks of vomit spewing out of the car window and backwards into his face. Her parents nodded in agreement, as if to offer up a sliver of respect in an effort to counteract their disdain for the rest of the night’s happenings.
Two hours earlier, as I sat across from a wailing cousin and a plate of grandma’s mashed potatoes, my friend raged with the children and families of her father’s frat brothers, an ensemble of 40-plus-year-old men, overdosing on booze as they relive the glory of their youths. “Wow,” I marveled, amused, amazed, and apologetic all at once. What a way to spend Christmas.
While not living it up quiet so vibrantly on the 25th, I, like most other freshman winter-breakers, can account for those awkward interactions when our relatives learn just how much we have already learned about liquor. Who else recalls being offered a mixed drink by an aunt for the first time and wishing they had stuttered when pronouncing its name? Or who may have tossed down a shot a little too effortlessly and raised the eyebrow of Mom? (Should I have gagged??) If your walls are as thin as mine, perhaps you have fallen prey to parents’ eavesdropping through the vents above the basement, baffled by the limited yet endless vocabulary of drugs and drinking games that you and your friends provide. (Sorry, Dad.)
You swore they knew in high school but, alas, the glimpse they had then was futile compared to the wisdom they have now. As the surprise ebbs away and the hangovers wear off, you will hopefully be left with a larger sense of understanding between you and your folks. You might even have some points on which to laugh. Like, “Hey, remember that time I threw up on Christmas?” Too soon? Alright. Just drink it off.