“Where is meet place?”
It was at SOAR. That ridiculous program that all freshmen are required to take prior to the first semester of college at MSU. I had to come with my mom (for some reason it was required for parents to show up one of the days). My mom is directionally challenged and is also frugal so this turned into us carpooling (as in mom and myself riding in the car, together, for one-hundred and eleven minutes total) from Fair Play to campus. The parents weren’t required to be there until latter on in the day. This left mom with the opportunity to go shopping and drive my car around Springfield. Great, maybe she’ll leave the emergency break on all day, again.
When the time came for parents to meet and greet each other (like they were best friends and would actually develop meaningful relationships all because of the common ground of having a freshmen college student), my mom was nowhere to be found. She was well aware of where to go and what time to be there, but not only is she directionally challenged, but she is also highly allergic to being on time.
I looked around and saw all the smiling faces of parents- the pride beaming like light. I scanned the room for mother, finding no mother of mine. So, I checked my phone. Ten missed calls from mom and one text reading, “Where is meet place?”
I called her. Mom answered with, “Emerald where the hell are you? You know I can’t get anywhere!” with annoyance dripping from her voice. I wasn’t sure if she was annoyed at herself or me, probably me.
I told her I was in Plaster Student Union and reminded her that she had a map and had been told where to meet and what time to meet there prior to her shopping trip. “The map doesn’t make sense! I don’t see any of these buildings! Just come find me.” She then hung up without telling me where she was.
I put the phone back in my bag and looked around at all the parents again. There was this shrimp of a girl who had been in my small group all day, I quickly found her and her shrimp of a father. As I walked over to the two tiny people I thought, well, this is happening. I am the girl with no parents. Though the thought was kind of sad and depressing it liberated me.
I greeted Stacie and Steve with, “eh hey guys, my mom is lost on campus can I just hang out with you all?” Steve never gave his response of, “sure” a second thought. It was settled…I was exiting Patty Land.