“Make sure to use the restroom before we leave.” My mom says in a sing song voice.
“Kayyy.” I say trying to match her tone.
ugh I know. I am getting real tired of my mom treating me like I am six. Make sure to use the restroom, yea because I can forget the feeling of my bladder getting ready to burst open. I feel she is not letting me grow by continuing on treating me like I am in elementary school. As a protest I decide to not use the restroom to show her I can hold my bladder for an hour.
“Don’t forget to wash your hands,” she tells me as I approach her.
It takes all the strength in me to not yell, especially since I am trying to prove I am grown, throwing a tantrum wouldn’t be a good idea. Although I can’t help but feel my face muscle tense in frustration, in fact I feel my ears turning as red and as hot as the Carolina Reaper. I decide to just smile.
“So when are we leaving?”
“Now, we were just waiting for you princess.”
“Riiight… well let’s go.”
We are going to visit my aunt Petra who we haven’t seen for almost 8 months, so naturally my mom is excited. I really enjoyed visiting my aunt, but all I could concentrate on was how my mom treated me. I was about to be a sophomore in high school and I did not want to be one of those teens that was embarrassed of her parents, but my mom sure made it hard. I understood where she was coming from, my older sister had just left to a summer program for her first year of college and she was feeling old, but I was feeling held back.
“Becca you have your seatbelt on right?”
I pull my hair from my scalp to not express aloud what I was feeling. It’s not working. Ok I have to hold my breath in order to not yell absurdities and hurt my mom’s feelings.
“Oh honey I think we are gonna have to put Becca in a car seat again.” My mom tells my dad and they both burst into laughter as if they were at an Ellen DeGeneres stand up. It was ridiculous how much they laughed.
The more they laughed, the more anger I felt inside me. She was taking things to far. I was practically throwing punches in the back seat trying to keep quiet but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell that I was practically an adult. I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t her little baby anymore and that I didn’t need her to watch over me and treat me like a little kid. Their laughter echoed like hyenas in a cave. I felt their laughter all around me as if it was closing down on me my breath becoming shorter and fast as each grasped for more air. I couldn’t take it.
“I need to go to the restroom.”
“Becca now didn’t I tell you to go before we left. I am telling you John, we need to be on top of this one.”
“Just stop the car, stop the car, stop the car.”
“Ok honey, just give me a second, I see a McDonald's up ahead.”
“Becca relax, next time just do as I say, mommy knows best.”
