HER REALITY

How do you feel when your worst fear stares right at you in the face?

And how do feel when your nightmare becomes your reality?

Well, that was how I felt four years ago when my parents decided we'd have a family meeting.

Usually, my dad would've informed me beforehand. But this time, it was different. I had no idea what was going on in my parents' head.

Fear of the known is the worst of all fears.

It is when you know the truth but you try not to face it even when you know you'd eventually do.

At this moment, I knew I couldn't escape my reality. So I waited patiently, expecting the worst to happen.

So the worst happened. It was on a Sunday evening.

In my house, Sunday evenings are quite symbolic.

It is that day of the week that my parents become professors in counseling.....

The advice you receive from my parents on Sunday evenings cannot be compared to any other advice you get on other days.

So, I braced myself for the expected to happen.

Lunch had been served about an hour ago. Mom and Dad ate in silence and I thanked my stars because I was able to eat in peace unlike other days.

But in the evening, trouble came knocking.

I would've acted deaf but it was so loud and clear, that I couldn't ignore it.

I knew she was at the door, but I laid in bed as though I was asleep.

Too bad she kept knocking that I couldn't ignore it anymore.

I reluctantly got up from bed. My reality was at the door, I just had to let it in.

The meeting was quite brief and in a weird way. Facts, my parents did most of the talking which of course is a norm in an average family meeting.

I must confess, I didn't pay much attention because I knew it was the same old thing I was going to hear from them.

Thirty minutes had passed and my mom and dad were taking turns to advise me.

I decided that I had to zone out before I lose my cool.

Until I heard......

"Just know that there's no way I would watch you chase that thing you call a dream. Not under my roof, you hear me?"

These were my mother's words to me. This was enough to make me lose my cool.

"If you insist mom, I won't....well not under your roof"

Yes, I could no longer take it. But I regreted those words as soon as they spilled out of my mouth. Maybe I shouldn't have said not under your roof.

Where was I going to live if it wasn't under her roof? I knew I was done for but this aura of calmness radiated all over me.

It was like a movie. I could only stand up to my mom by begging her but this was different.

I wasn't even trying to convince her. I took extreme measures just because of my dreams.

I looked at my dad expecting a comment. He just glanced at me with that look that says.....

"I thought I pleaded with you to listen to your mother."

And that was how I no longer stayed with my parents.........