Young Cheryl Speaks…On Hope

“I don’t see what’s so great about having big plans and dreams. They never amount to anything. Just ask Dad. He hoped to be foreman at his job by now, and look where he is. Slogging to work every day with a sad look on his face. Going straight to bed after supper without even watching the news like he used to. He is beaten. He knows it and I know it.
“But at least he isn’t like Mom. She can manufacture hope out of nothing. She didn’t get discouraged when Dad didn’t climb up the corporate ladder. No. That would have been too easy. Instead, she turned her hope on me – full force. I try to ignore her as much as possible. She is a boring, babbling idiot.
“I don’t want to be mean, but she should get a life of her own. Quit bothering me for a change. I would rather hang around the café or the baseball park with Jerry. He knows me too well to try to turn me into a success. He likes me without that. I wouldn’t say I have fallen in love with Jerry, or anything as sappy as that. I just know him and he knows me. It means a lot in a town where everybody thinks they know you but really don’t have a clue about the thoughts that fill your mind.
“This town is – oh – it is crazy, and all the people in it are crazy too. Mom doesn’t think so. She thinks it’s the damn cradle of civilization or something. She thinks I’m going to become something great, and she thinks it has something to do with living here. I don’t understand it, but she thinks I will leave this town and conquer the world. She’s really the one that’s crazy.
“I guess it’s just not something I want to think about. Hope toys with you. It gets you excited, knocks you down and leaves you on the floor. Then, it goes away as quickly as it came, with you waiting for a rescue. Well, I don’t want to put myself in that position anymore. I just want to live my life, take what comes, and try to find a place where everybody is not so snoopy and judgmental. Why can’t she understand that? All I want is to be free of her and her impossible ambitions. All I want is to find a place where hope is far away and real life is what it’s all about. All I want is peace.”