So It Is Written

I feel so many emotions now that my parents are back from the Holy Land. I am relieved that they are back home safely. I am thrilled that they had a wonderful trip. I am sad that their relaxing and religious experience has come to an end. I am nervous that they will have a hard time readjusting. I am scared that my mom will cut me out of the will after she reads my blogs.

The fear took me back to day almost 20 years ago. I was 12. I got a call while I was playing Super Mario at my best friend, Cory's, house. All I heard was my mom's voice on the other end of the line, "Come home right now." I walked briskly around the corner of Old Mill trying to think of what dirty plate I had left in my room or what TV show had she found out that I'd watched.

As I walked up my parents brick walkway, I saw my mom sitting at the breakfast room table behind a piles of papers that had accumulated in her purse and in various nesting spots around the house. Most people have a company box for parties. My mother has a company room.

I groaned. A paper trail. The possibilities were endless. A failed quiz? The list of all the girls in my class I hated? Oh god, I thought as I opened the front door, she was going to make me have them all over for dinner. My life was ruined.

But it wasn't what I thought. It was much worse. In my mother's right hand was a piece of slightly torn college ruled paper that looked frighteningly familiar. It was a note that I had written Matt, my latest crush but didn't have the nerve to give him. It said how cute I thought he was and that I was so glad he was my boyfriend.

My stomach dropped. My eyes wandered. Was there something on the table that was possibly worse in my mother's mind than that letter? My eyes locked in on a credit card statement that I was certain had charges my Dad made without my mom knowing. Before I could bring it to her attention, my mother's lecture started. It was long and painful.

But the things I remember most are, break-up with the boyfriend you aren't allowed to have and never write down anything you don't want me to read.