Going Back to Cleveland

It was near the end of May, the semester was over and I was not coming back next year for the new year. Dad was disgusted, money spent on a wasted one-year college experience that ended up with a firm warning from the school administration, "your daughter is on suspension till further notice."

Like some young kids going to college far away from home for the first time, college was supposed to be FUN. Where rules were made to be broken if not followed obediently. Mom and dad and little sister were 590 miles away and I was on my own, for the first time. I studied when I felt like it specifically in only three of the classes I really liked and the rest of the time was 'play-time'.

Marist College was situated in Poughkeepsie New York, Dutchess County to be exact and smack in-between the Culinary Instuitute of America and Vassar College. I had had my share of skipping classes and venturing around town in borrowed friends cars and of course a trusty bicycle. But what got me 'suspended' was a drop in my grade point average and specifically going to the bar on campus reserved for juniors and seniors old enough to drink and stay out later than regular curfew assigned to freshman and sophomores. I figured who would really notice that my college ID had the 6 at the end of my birthdate rubbed out and replaced with a 3, making me three years older and allowed to be where I wasn't supposed to be.

All I wanted to do was be around the older crowd and not drink but just be there. Big mistake ! After having listened to the band and sitting discussing world religion and politics, the Marist security realized an 'underager' was amongst the crowd and I was asked for my ID and then escorted back to my dorm. Within two days, my evaluation had made it to my parents home mailbox and dads ears were burning. He was furious ! He got in the car and within ten hours, he was a slow driver then too, he made it to my dorm room stairs yelling at the top of his lungs to come downstairs packed with all my belongings ready to drive back to Cleveland. I really did not want to go home after having failed at my first experinece adventure away from home.

The first two hours of the trip we hardly spoke at all. I asked if I could put the radio on and he agreed, reluctantly. It was all I could do to break the unnerving silence. This song came on and I discovered a feeling creeping up inside of me that I was an adult now despite my immature decision to change my birthdate so I could be around the 'older folks'. I sang to myself and felt if I could not do 'college-life' away from home, I sure as heck could do work at or around home.

So this song made my independence soar and not let my fathers frustrated disappointment rule what I was going to do next in my life: begin working in the hospitality management field. A far cry from psychology but profitable in its own right. I was going to be the best darn waitress he ever saw. Social circles of dads medical practice were just going to have get used to the fact that washing dishes, serving food and making pennies on the dollar was what I found, 'eased my soul' at that particular time in my life. If it made my dads skin crawl because he was a successful orthopeadic surgeon, so be it.

He was not really in control and looking back today, I am so glad a minor goof and a warning of suspension, gave me a reason to find a second avenue of income I can always count on and always prove to dad that a stepping stone to better things work out for the best and that his giving me my first year away at school, was not in vain . . . He has always been proud but this time he was rendered, speechless because I made it in two fields "psychology and hospitality management"--restaurant serving, catering and eventually managing. It is great how some things just work out for the best when they start off looking like I would be going nowhere in life !