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However, as the years passed and my parents’ focus remained on Avery’s health, I started to slowly see my position as something to resent. I know it’s a terrible thing, but there were times I used to wish I were the sick one. Avery seemed to get so much love and attention, not because she demanded it, but because she needed it. It probably wasn’t even intentional, but the fact is, when one child is sick, everyone else goes on the back burner. It’s the only way for the family unit to survive. I understood that, but my hope was that once Avery got better and left the hospital, life would balance itself out again. We could turn into a normal family.
It didn’t work that way.
Avery did kick cancer’s butt, and eventually she got to come home to cram into the two-bedroom apartment with us. Still, that didn’t mean she was “normal” the way I was—heavy emphasis on the air quotes. Avery always needed more. She was behind in school. She was fragile and small for her age. She needed a special diet, tutors, routine checkups.
My parents continued to provide for her the best way they could, and I found a place to survive all on my own: Fairytale Kingdom. I started working there the summer I turned fifteen. My job wasn’t all that important—I sold balloons on Castle Drive—but I loved every minute of it. I was playing the same role I’d played for years: making people happy and providing for others, but this time it was on my own terms. Children would squeal with delight when I’d hand over a balloon, and after that first summer, I knew I wanted to work in the park full-time one day.
My senior year in high school, my parents started discussing the idea of moving to New York for Avery so she could pursue a real acting career. She’d been bit with the acting bug when she was still in the hospital. Her pediatric unit had put on a Christmas play, and each child was assigned a part. Avery played the sugarplum queen, and on that makeshift stage in the hospital cafeteria, she found her calling.
After that, she was cast in local theater productions. My parents would drive her to auditions and practices all over the state, gone most nights of the week. She’d recently come home, beaming from ear to ear, eager to inform me that she had an agent! She showed me his business card while I sat in our shared bedroom, reading my history textbook on my bed.
“It’s real! Touch it.”
I held the cardstock in my hands. It was thick and embossed with black, bold letters. Real, indeed.
“He wants me to fly to New York and audition for an off-Broadway play.”
I had no idea what “off-Broadway” meant, but I acted like I did.
“You should do it,” I said, holding the business card back out to her.
Her eyes were bright with hope. “You could come too!”
No. I couldn’t. I had school and shifts at Fairytale Kingdom.
Soon after that, the move to New York felt all but inevitable, so I looked into my options for ways I could stay in Georgia without them.
The Knightley Company has a special college program for incoming freshmen. If accepted, participants split their time between working in the theme park and taking college courses through South Georgia University. The goal is to graduate with a degree in hospitality management while gaining real-world experience. In addition to a small wage, the program pays for college tuition and provides room and board.
I sent in my application the first day the enrollment period opened, and when my acceptance letter came in the mail, I screamed so loud Avery came rushing into our room, assuming murder.
A part of me held out a tiny bit of hope that my parents would put up a fight about me staying behind in Georgia without them. The plan was for us all to move to New York, but when I showed them the acceptance letter and explained how competitive the program was, they wrapped me up in a hug and told me how proud they were. No tears of sadness over the fact that they were going to leave me behind, just nails in the coffin of our relationship.
The day they packed up their moving truck, I settled into my fully furnished on-site dorm at Fairytale Kingdom. Though the halls were noisy and filling with other new interns just like me, I sat alone in my room, sad in a way I couldn’t easily explain. I was at my desk, glancing over my course schedule and trying to conjure up excitement for my new life, when an email popped up on my computer.From: [email protected]
Subject: Mentor ProgramHi students,All incoming freshman interns are required to take part in our mentorship program. Each student has been placed with an executive-level staff member who will act as a resource and adviser over the coming year. Mentors will offer shadowing opportunities as well as program-approved assignments. Each student will earn one credit hour for participation in the program.
