Page 113 of Bless My Body

don’t love a visit from you, but you don’t usually come home for a weekend visit.”

“Yeah, I just needed to clear my head. With graduation coming up, I just feel more stressed than I

have in a long time.”

“Aww, come on,” she says, pulling me towards the kitchen. “Are you hungry? Let’s eat and chat.”

My dad comes down the stairs. “Hey, baby girl.” He gives me a comforting hug before we all sit

down at the circular kitchen table that my parents have had for as long as I can remember.

“So, what’s going on?” Mom asks once we’re all seated with a plate of meatloaf, mashed

potatoes, and peas.

“I don’t know,” I say, pushing my food around on my plate. “I don’t know if it’s just because

graduation is almost here, and I’m just freaking out or what.”

“So you’re worried about what you are going to do? You know you can always come back here

while you figure it out,” Mom offers.

“Thanks, Mom. And I know that, but honestly, the last thing I want to do is come back here. No

offense.” Thankfully, they aren’t offended and laugh.

“I know you never liked being in a small town. Your personality is too big to be cooped up here.

But you know you always have a place here. We miss you.” My relationship with my family has

gotten so much better since I moved away to college. When I lived here, my mom and I would butt

heads all the time. Butting heads is probably too tame for what we did. It was more like full-on

screaming matches. Dad would have to break us apart sometimes.

I wanted to be a normal kid and experiment and figure out who I was, but my mom only wanted to

protect me and keep me tucked away in a bubble.

I hated being in this town. I hated that everything I did got back to my parents somehow. The first

time I kissed a boy, my parents knew before I even got home because one of our neighbors witnessed

the awkward event and called my mom immediately.

My mom grew up here. She always wanted to raise a family in a quiet, safe town. I understand

that now, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Small towns just aren’t for me. Even Brunswick, a

college town, is starting to feel too small.

When I moved away, Mom and I called each other at least every other week to talk about things. It

got easier for us to have actual conversations instead of screaming at each other. She started to see me

as more of an adult, and I started seeing things from her perspective. At least I did when I actually