This is going to be the story of a morning spent during the summer before my junior year of high school. It's not a very long story, but it left lasting impressions on me and was actually in top contention for my common app essay, so it's a good one...
I was attending a Columbia University summer program for high school students. The program was three weeks long, so some nights I slept at home and had my dad drive me in the morning, and other nights I stayed with my grandpa in Lincoln Center and took the bus. Most mornings I ate breakfast either at home or at my grandpa's, but one day, I decided I wanted to go to the diner a couple of blocks from the school. I did. Alone. I said, "Just one," sat down across from nobody, ordered pancakes, ate, paid, and left. And that is basically the entire story... exciting, right? Not quite.
It was, in fact, one of the most uncomfortable and eye-opening moments of my life thus far. Think I'm being dramatic? Think again. Those of you who have eaten alone at a full-service restaurant at a young age probably know what I am getting at. For the rest of you, I shall elaborate.
In that moment, with the words "just one," I realized I was growing up. For the first time in my life, not only I was out on my own, but I was providing for myself, and myself only. I was far away from my family and the people who I've grown accustomed to supporting me. I was sitting at a table for two and facing nobody, and that was really daunting. Though I was only fifteen years old, I realized in that moment that I was on the verge of growing up, and this made me feel both really scared and really empowered.
I was at a loss for what to do with myself. Where was I supposed to look, since there was nobody sitting there with me? I ended up eating faster than I ever have (which is saying a lot), because all I could think to do was stare intently at my pancakes.
I will never forget this simple morning because of how much it still carries with me. I realized then that there would be many more tables for one in my future, and that yes, I will be entirely responsible for myself at some point in the not-so-distant future.
With my order of pancakes, I grew up with nobody to witness. But I guess that's how it always happens; you'll wake up one morning, grown, and wonder why nobody warned you about it, about life.
That, ladies and gentlemen, was my story.
