Columns

It is a universal truth - and therefore part of your experience - that the parent/child relationship is fraught. Even the best relationships contain some tensions and disappointments.

Despite the abnormally nice weather we’ve been having, the night was chilly, the sky clear and the excitement was mounting. Nine of us were about to see the Nottingham Forest Football Club play against Middlesbrough.

“We should hang out sometime.”

“Yeah, we should.”

“Sweet, we’ll make it happen sometime.”

(Three weeks later)

“We really should hang out.”

“Obviously! We need to make this happen!”

(One month later)

“Girl, I never see you! We need to hang out!”

“We really should do it soon, yeah.”

This past week, Alexandra Forbes (‘13) and I went to a green grocer. For those of you who are not familiar with green grocers, it is basically a fresh fruit and vegetable stand.

The two of us went looking for something to supplement the dinner that was being made that night. I thought that maybe a fruit salad would be good. It was my first time actually looking around the store, and I was thoroughly lost. I thought I knew my fruits and vegetables, but when they have a different name, that makes it a bit more confusing.

In my room, there’s a mirror with magazine cut-outs of encouraging words, pictures of myself and my best friend and little things that always make us smile. It’s colorful—a hodge-podge of happiness that has summed up my relationship with her throughout the years.

Last Tuesday night, Chelsey Kohnen (‘13) and I went to an Indian festival called Dussehra or Navratri. The festival celebrated two Hindu gods who were fighting and then on the tenth day, they stopped fighting. We went on the sixth day, when many University students attended.

“When I grow up, I want to inspire people.”

I always feel a surge of pride and panic every time I hear someone say this. Pride, because it’s a lofty idea that gives me shivers to think that the person I’m standing by could be the big change in the world. Panic, because I’m almost positive that that person is definitely not me.