“Mom?”
“Yes honey,”
“I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.”
“No one does. And if anyone tells you they do, they’re lying.”
“But for real, I’m spiralling.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m not ready to go away to college.”
“Ya, I kinda got that vibe from you.”
“But the idea of staying home is horrifying – no offence.”
“None taken.”
“Dad will lose his mind if I defer. He thinks I’ll turn into a meth addict if I don’t go straight to school.”
“He will lose his mind, he’s an epic worrier. But he’ll get over it.”
“And the competition for internships is crazy, like I should be interviewing now. My year off needs to look good on paper.”
“Fuck that.”
“That’s your advice, fuck that?”
“Fuck good on paper.”
“Again, not the kind of guidance I’m looking for here mom.”
“Rosie you’re seventeen years old, you’re allowed to take some time to just live – sometimes spiraling, sometimes having the time of your life.”
“That’s such a Gen X thing to say.”
“Maybe it is, but it’s also the truth. Listen, your grades are excellent, you’re in three school clubs – which I know you hate – you have a part-time job, you volunteer and you sell vintage on Poshmark. That’s enough. You are enough. Take a fucking break, live a little.”
Sal took a long sip of wine, trying to keep herself from raging. The fact that her daughter was worried about how her year off school would look on paper was everything that was wrong with the world.
“But what does that break look like? I need a plan. I’ve never not had a plan.”
“Go to Ireland and meet your relatives! They would love to have you stay with them. They literally say that every time we’re on group chat.”
“Dad told me your extended family is nuts.”
“They are kind of, but the right kind of nuts. They’re loving, colorful, live out loud kind of people. In fact they might be just what you need.”
“Live out loud? What the hell does that mean?”
“It means living boldly.”
“But I’ve literally never met any of these people.”
“Exactly, that’s the fun of it, it’s an adventure.”
“What would I do there?”
“Are you kidding me? You’ve heard me talking about them at dinner. Aunt Mary owns a boutique hotel. Maura’s clothing store is super chic – Bono shops there. Eileen’s farm is so damn cute it’s like made for Instagram. You could intern for all of them and they would give you real work to do, you would learn so much.”
“Okay okay, this does actually sound kind of cool. But who’s Bono?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”
“So you really think I could make this work?”
“I do. And it would be really fucking good on paper.”
“Okay, let me think about it. It’s not the worse idea ever.”
“Thank you my lovely daughter, you’re so kind.”
sparkledame 