When I was talking to my mom the other day, she told me, flat-out, that she doesn’t know anything about looking for a job in another city. I was well-aware of this fact already, but hearing her say it finally drove it home.
A divide exists between me and my parents. There are some things that they simply cannot help me with. They can only support me up to a certain point, and after that, I’m on my own. As much as I relish the thought, it also scares me.
I love my parents. They worked hard and made an honest living, but neither one went to college. As much as my parents might think that they understand the college experience and what it means to pursue a career, I fear that they don’t. They don’t understand because they’ve never gone through the process.
I wish they could have had the opportunities that they have been able to give me, but they didn’t. My mom once said that parents want their kids to have a better life than them. It’s only natural.
But when the children actually attain that better life, it puts them at odds with their parents because each traveled down a different life path. And then, as much as they want to understand each other, they can’t.
My mom tells me I don’t have to live in my hometown. She says, “Go ahead and move. Go live anywhere.” But the tone she uses says something else. And then I get defensive, and it’s all downhill from there.
From a career perspective, opportunities in my field don’t exist in that area. If I end up working for some small-town newspaper, something went seriously wrong in my life.
I want more than that.
