So that's why I grew up

So I have this friend. She was the first blind person that I had ever met other than myself. Now, her family is kind of messed up. Her mom has never worked a day in her life, and she has two brothers and a sister who treat her like garbage a lot of the time. None of that family ever aspired to do anything with their lives until she came along. She's always been a little odd, but I've loved her since she was five and since we first met.

Skip ahead now to her being eighteen in her last year of high school. She's trying to make decisions as to what she's going to do with her life, and, what a concept, she wants to go to college and take a radio broadcasting program, because that is what she loves to do. She took classes in broadcasting in high school, and she found her niche. So, you'd think you'd have some support from your loved ones, but her mother is saying she can't go to college. Her two first choices were Belleville and Ottawa, because they are the two closest colleges to her. Belleville, unfortunately, got voted right out because everything is digital and it's a touch screen that is not accessible with Jaws or whatever, but Ottawa's program looks pretty okay by the sounds of things. Her mother says that she can only go to Belleville, and that she come home every weekend, but then she's pissed about driving her daughter back and forth. No, Mummy, ever heard of something called residence? And then, when my friend mentions the fact that she wants to come to Ottawa, this is not even an option, and she says "I hope your teachers realize that it's not their daughter that they're sending away to college." Let me inform you of something, the vision teacher has three children, all of whom went to various different universities and colleges, one of whom even moved out to live in Alaska, which is in a whole other country. I think the teachers know what they are talking about. I believe this mother is just pissed off because she never made anything of her life, and she just assumed that like her other offspring this blind daughter would do the same. Sit at home all day? This girl could actually make something of her life, instead of living off of Mommy for the rest of it. I wish some people would just learn.

This reminds me of when I totally did not want to go to University, but honestly, I feel like I've grown up so much since I've been away. Friends tell me this often, they say I've really changed since they first met me. I don't know what I want to do with my life yet, but at least it's something.