I believed for years that I had reconciled with the past. However, I learned that old scars don’t go away so quickly from my parents’ expressions when they arrived at my front door, which they never imagined I would own. Particularly if you are the son who deviated from their plan.
I had no idea that I would see them again. I had come to terms with the fact that, after seventeen years, I was merely a letdown to them. However, I knew that something intriguing was about to happen when my parents stood on my front step last Friday, looking around the home as if they had approached the wrong door.
An elderly couple in front of an opulent home | Source: Midjourney
Let’s go back to my seventeenth birthday, when I informed my parents that I would not be attending medical school.
“What are you?” As though I had just confessed to a crime, my mother whispered.
Even though I could feel my heart racing, I repeated, “I’m not going to be a doctor,” in a harder voice. “Acting and possibly starting a business are my goals.” It had taken me months to get the guts to say it aloud.
Talking with his parents as a teenager | Source: Midjourney
My dad threw up his hands and scoffed. “Behaving? Company? Do you believe this to be a joke? Son, we’re doctors. We are born with it. We are who we are.
“But it’s not who I am,” I answered, nearly stumbling over my own words. “That life is not what I want.”
I hoped they would cool down and perhaps have a conversation. My father, however, shook his head, looking stony-faced. Then go. You don’t belong here if you are incapable of continuing the tradition of this family.
One man declined to follow in his family’s footsteps and become a doctor. | Source: Shutterstock
Suddenly, they interrupted me. All I had was a hundred dollars, a bag of clothes, and a lot of uncertainty about what the future held. For a while, I went around, couch-surfed, took on odd jobs, and did whatever to make ends meet.
Despite the few acting opportunities, I persevered and eventually established a little side company. It was difficult in the beginning, just me with no family or support.
Their faces went blank as we came up to my house, a modern, clean-lined home nestled on a quiet lot.
With a look of doubt on his face, my father questioned, “This is your place?”
“Yes,” I replied as I pushed the entrance gate open. They trailed after, and I observed as their gazes swept over the beautifully manicured lawn, the personalized landscaping, and the glistening pool at the rear.