Ive always wanted my son to become a strong, responsible
man. A determined young guy, able to consider the world from a critical point
of view. My wife Lily- and I have the same values thats why we got married
in the first place. Not because I was in love with her lets be honest, she
isnt that attractive, but because I immediately felt that she would be a great
mother for her children. The first decade of Pauls life did go as planned: his
education, which we had strictly prepared in advance, seemed to work out. But
it all changed when Paul went to middle school. We noticed that he got on with
the wrong people, but we didnt have any evidence that could confirm our
suspicion. We could never get a word out of him; he was as silent as the grave.
We felt that we had to take measures and thats what we did. We couldnt
accuse our son of being a criminal, so we hired a spy who promised to keep an
eye on Paul during one week. He was persecuted everywhere at any time, from the
moment he set off for school to when he got home again. But what the spy told
us at the end of week was worse than wed expected. It was a disaster. I
remembered how my wife turned pale while hearing that Paul secretly snatched
candy from the Kruidvat shop. The beginning of a life full of misery and
criminality, she said desperately. My wife and I decided to take precautions:
by the next week, Paul didnt go to school anymore. We taught him ourselves.
That seemed to work out as well, regardless of the fact that he showed some
resistance in the beginning because we had taken him away from, what he called
his social life. As the months passed by, Pauls indignity seemed to be
fading away, which was a huge relief for Lily and I. Finally, we could breathe
again. Still we were a bit anxious of what could happen once our son turned
eighteen. Then hed be grown-up and independent, no longer abiding under his
parents protecting wings. We knew that he would claim his freedom and that we
couldnt do anything but watch him go away. And thats exactly what happened
last month. Paul has left his parental house forever.
I had been noticing some changes in his behavior, lately it had become very remarkable. For a while I thought that maybe it was because he was testing us and our strict rules. That he didnt understand that we did it just for his own good. To protect him from all the bad influences and distractions in this poisoned world. But when he started to be more unruly I knew something more was up. Especially when he suddenly started to go to the library every evening. One night he came home after 9 pm. While the library closes at 7 pm. I did what we shouldve done sooner: give him home arrest for a month and took his phone away. I looked through it and found out what had been the cause of his behavior. There were lots and lots of messages from and to a girl named Susan. She must have been the reason for his behavior. She caused our son to be distracted, to not focus on his homework as much as he used to formerly. And she was the reason why he always left the house. She had a bad influence on him. I and my husband talked to him about her and made clear that he couldnt be with her, with any girl for that matter. He was way too young to have such things on his mind and we couldnt allow that. We needed to protect our son. Of course he was mad about this and he still is. But back then he didnt know what was good for him, were hoping that he will learn to become the decent grown man that we have always raised him to be in university.
Its been
three years since the day I fell in love for the very first time. Just the
awareness hit me like a sharp iron knife going straight through my heart. I was
scared to tell her I knew that she still wasnt over her ex and that she just
wanted to be friends- but I couldnt make up a fairytale anymore. I loved her.
And after two months of constantly talking, I thought Ive waited long enough.
At first, she was laughing at me and didnt believe me at all, although I was
very serious. To my great astonishment, she admitted the feelings were mutual,
and bam, love was in the air. But things didnt continue very rosy. My parents
threw us apart, as soon as they discovered the relationship. I havent spoken
to her since that remarkable, crucial day. I wasnt allowed to do so. A couple
of years ago, my parents decided to keep me away from what they called a
terrible world by teaching me at home: the memorable home-schooling, which I
fiercely hated. The first time I went to a real school was nearly 3 weeks ago,
when I started university. Im studying psychology, the only section Ive
always been interested in. My parents though wanted me to become a scientist, a
doctor, a genius. Ive never really cared about what they wanted for me. Maybe
cause Ive always rejected their opinion anyhow. Im done with that. Next week,
Im leaving home forever. Im going to move into my lovers student apartment.
I hope shell be OK with that. That shell still love me as much as she did
three years ago. Lets keep our fingers crossed
