As we grow up, we often long to reach certain milestones and have more independence than our parents or guardians agree with. In the following extract from Jack Cheng’s novel See You in the Cosmos, two siblings discuss their changing relationship with their mother. Their conversation is written in transcript form.
See You in the Cosmos
ALEX: I know what you mean. It’s like when someone thinks I’m still nine or ten years old. I hate that because I’m eleven, not nine. I’m in middle school, not fourth grade. And I’m probably at least thirteen in responsibility years!
TERRA: It’s a big difference, isn’t it? They just don’t get it. ALEX: They just don’t get it. TERRA: I don’t know what happened though, it wasn’t always like this. ALEX: Like what?
TERRA: With my mom. Our relationship was a lot different. I used to tell her everything. If there was … something I’d done that I knew she wouldn’t approve of – like, some hard decision that’d I made on my own, I’d tell her about it afterwards. And I felt that at least she understood why I made the choices I did, even if she wasn’t always happy about them.
ALEX: Was one of the choices to move to your own apartment? She wasn’t happy probably because she knew she was going to really miss you.
TERRA: Mmm … yeah, I guess. But it’s just that sometimes parents don’t want to accept that their kids are growing up. It’s like they think, I don’t know, they think if we grow up, then we stop being their kids or something. But that’s their whole job! It’s to raise us to be independent! They just have such a hard time facing it, you know? Facing the truth.
