Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for letting me go. I know letting me go is nothing new - I've been leaving since forever ago. To Minnesota, to Indiana, to Iowa, to Missouri, to Jordan, all by myself. I'm sure you've had safety concerns, but thanks for not letting them get in the way of me chasing my dreams. Thanks for sending me care packages full of cookies and stupid trivia games, even when I didn't have the time to write a snail mail letter back. Thanks for letting me get on a plane with a suitcase and an Arabic dictionary, and knowing I'd be all right. Thanks for letting me do all that when I was 14 years old, 15 years old, 16 years old, 17 years old.

Thanks for having let me even apply to go to the UWCs. Thanks for not reminding me about the teeny tiny admission rate while I was working on my application. Thanks for letting me apply to whatever I wanted. Thanks for letting me go wherever I wanted when accepted. Thanks for never saying "No."

I realize that you guys are awesome for letting me just go do this whole Africa thing. Not all parents are as chill as you guys, and that's made such a difference in what I've been able to do, and where I've been able to go. It finally occurred to me that a seventeen-year-old moving from Illinois to Swaziland by herself isn't really normal...

We all know you're sentimental beasts, you parents, but thanks for hiding it. I know that the minute I left in the airport, you probably cried, like you did when I flew to Jordan. But thanks for at least waiting until I left. After all of this "mature" stuff, I'm still a teenager, and no teenager wants to stand in an airport with their sobbing parents.

 

Love,

Diana

PS. Even if you don't like it, I've officially moved out of the house. You're welcome to turn my room into a sewing room :)