Your Dad just got offered a great new job with a huge raise. It’s really going to set up your whole family for life. Unfortunately, the job requires that you all move to Santa Fe. You’ve tried to explain that this is really inconvenient for you, but they just brush your concerns off, saying you’re only twelve and you’ll make new friends. They’re not taking you seriously.
Today’s the day of the big move. The truck is in the driveway, almost full. One thing not in that truck is your suitcase.
“I’m not going with you, Mom and Dad,” you’ll tell them. They’ll be in the kitchen making calls to arrange for various deliveries and utility transfers.
“Not now,” they’ll say.
Drop your suitcase and shout, “No. Now!”
They’ll hang up their phones and turn their attention to you.
“I have built a life here. I have friends. I have my soccer. I have a girlfriend who just let me kiss her for the first time last Friday afternoon. You can’t ask me to just give all that up and run off with you because you got a new job!”
Your parents will sit down on boxes and they’ll speak in calmer tones.
“You have to understand we’re only thinking about what’s best for all of us.”
Tell them, “What’s best for me is that I finish what I start. That I live the life I’ve been living. My life. Not yours.”
“Where will you live? What will you do for money?” your mother will ask.
“I have my route,” you’ll say. You distribute coupon circulars throughout the neighborhood on a weekly basis. “My school lunches are subsidized by local taxes. I’ll get by.”
“But we’re a team,” your dad will say.
“You can’t be a team if you don’t let your players play their best game.”
Your parents will know then that they’re not going to talk you out of this. “How can we reach you?” your Mom will ask.
“I’ll be staying in the fort me and my friends built out in the woods. I don’t get mail there yet, but if you send word people in this town will know how to find me.”
Your Mom will hug you and your dad will walk you outside. “This girlfriend. She pretty?” he’ll ask.
“She’s okay,” you’ll say.
Your Dad will tell you how he split up with his parents for a girl when he was ten and he never looked back. “You do what you gotta do.”
Your Dad will tousle your hair and wish you luck. You’ll head to the curb and stick out your thumb to hitch your way into the future.
Happy Tell Your Parents You Can’t Move To The New Town With Them Day!
