A Recent Conflict

As time was winding down in the Fall 2014 semester, I was finishing up all of my final exams and essays, eager for the winter break like all other students. Because I had left my car at home for my younger brother’s use, I expected that he could return the favor by making the two hour drive to Monterey and picking me up on the Thursday of finals week. On Wednesday night, my mom called and told me that there was no way he could pick me up because he was too inexperienced of a driver and she didn’t trust him.

This ruined all my plans. I had already promised a friend from back home that I would make it to his birthday party on the Thursday night. To make matters worse, I had already ran out of money on my meal plan the week before and was forced to use my own money to pay for meals. My mom told me that the earliest she could pick up was on Saturday, which would force me to spend more of my own money on food and miss my friend’s party.

I was outraged that she left it up until Wednesday night to tell me this. I felt completely unimportant as well as uncompensated. I mean my gratuity was the only reason my brother had a car to drive. This saved my mom the time it would take to drive my brother to school every day. I argued with my mom, calling my brother lazy for not taking a few hours out of his afternoon to come pick me up.

I was also upset with my mom because she waited all the way up until the night before to tell me that I would have to wait another few days at college until I could get picked up. She could have at least told me this news earlier in the week, giving me a little bit of time to possibly find another way to get home. My mom thought I was being too selfish and over dramatic. She kept telling me that spending a few extra days at college wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

Ironically, just as final exams were concluding, I felt more stressed out than ever. I was going to have to miss my friend’s party, spend more of my own money on the overpriced campus food, and I was going to be the last one of all my friends who hadn’t gone home for the break

On Thursday, I was blessed with some sort of a miracle as it seemed. Another one of my friends was driving back home from southern California, where he was attending college. He texted me notifying he was driving back that day. I replied, asking if he could pick me up since it would be on his way. Everything worked out. My friend was gracious enough to give me a ride and I was able to forgive my mom and brother. I felt that all I really needed was someone to do something kind for me for once. I realized that I was crying over spilled milk so to say, and I was able to accept that not everyone was going to cater to my needs all the time.