My story begins in Chicago, around Christmastime. Everyone was getting into the Christmas spirit and joy; everybody except for me. After not seeing them for a year, I was finally at my cousins’ house for my winter break. When I left for Chicago, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do; however, my parents disagreed with me. My cousins, Aathavi(Aathoo), Aarna, and Arenya had all the fun in the world with my brother, my parents, and my aunt and uncle; on the other hand, I was working. Don’t get me wrong, I love singing, dancing, doing math, and collecting money for charity, but it was winter break, and I, like any other 12-year-old girl, just wanted to relax. I wanted to be independent and free to have fun, but my parents thought otherwise. I have always felt like my cousins had a perfect life, and this trip sets it in stone. So this trip started out pretty tame, but things started to heat up pretty quickly. We were staying at my …show more content…
I haven’t had one full day where I didn’t work!! Not one day. Look at Aathoo she’s 11, and I’m 12, but she hasn’t even read a book the entire time we’ve been here!!! I want to be a kid… Please just let me be a kid for this trip… Just this once…” “Patani, all we’ve ever tried to do is help you. We thought this is what you wanted to do. We never knew you felt this way. You never told us anything. If you had told us, we would have definitely let you.” “Amma, Appa I know you’re trying to help me. I get that, but sometimes it’s so hard because I’m working and Aathoo, Aarna, Arenya, and Anna are just goofing off and having fun. Also, I do want to do all this; I couldn’t imagine a life without doing it, but I just want to have some more free time, and be more independent.” “Okay. We understand and we respect that you know what you want to do. Come here…” My parents both hugged me, and I was almost crying of happiness. I was so happy to finally get that off my chest, and to know that I would always be able to take a