This week has always been the week of hell for me since I could remember. The reasons over the years have changed however. In elementary school, it was having to explain to my teachers why I didn’t have all my school supplies, dealing with the comments from my friends that they had better crayons than me or markers which was the latest thing at the time, and being one of the only kids whose parents didn’t drive them to school or greet them at the school bus when we returned. By the time middle school hit, it evolved from crayons to fashion and markers to highlights. I was the uncool kid in school that liked math and didn’t have highlights.
While most kids would come home and cry to there parents or beg them for highlights, I wanted to avoid confrontation with them. By this time, I was quickly learning that I need to be independent. And high school. I don’t even think I need to comment here. High school is just plain miserable for everyone I think. I wasn’t the prettiest girl, the smartest girl, or the anything girl. The hardest part was my friends not buying my excuses when I had to explain why I couldn’t go do this or that, why sometimes I would come to school in tears, or why I was so sad all the time. Very few of my friends really knew about my family life. Thankfully, the first day of school became less important and the tough days became the ones that required ‘family attendance.’ I don’t know how many of those days I pretended to be sick just so I could get out of it.
When I went to college, it basically started all over again. Back to making excuses as to why my parents aren’t there to start me off to a new college. In an ideal world of course, you shouldn’t have to make excuses, but when someone asks you: Why aren’t your parents here? What do you say? They are busy (no one buys this one). Or lets try the truth. My stepfather is an alcoholic and my mother struggles with serious depression that she refuses to get help for. So naturally they take parenting about as seriously as most college students take the legal drinking age requirement.
Obviously it’s never good to lie to people when you first meet them, but what’s a girl to do? No one wants to be around someone who is negative all the time and being completely honest just makes people think you are crazy. So obviously, you need to find a happy medium (of excuses and subject avoidance). My mom and stepfather have been together since I was a baby and I still don’t know when is right time to tell people about my family.
