“Hey honey … how was your day? Did you went to Lee’s?”
Her mom was preparing dinner at the pantry when she walked into the house. The smell of her cooking was so inviting that made her stomach growl. All that smooching was making her hungry.
“It was fine,” she automatically responded like it was on default. She put her bag on the sofa and lazily sat on the stool by the pantry island. “How was your day?” she was frowning.
Claire was amused looking at her daughter who was clearly struggling with her teenage problems. “Okay … let it all out now, what’s been bothering you? You’ve been like this since yesterday … does this has something to do with Lee?”
Hazel told her everything, Claire was the kind of mom she can tell everything to and she knew how special that is. In Claire, she knew she was getting more than a motherly attention, she was her best friend too.
“Oh I’m so sorry honey … though I’m happy for Lee, it must be very exciting for him,” she commented.
Hazel raised an eyebrow and huffed, “Yeah … I’m happy for him too … not so happy for us … I mean, two years is a long time, we haven’t even been together that long.”
Her mom thought for a moment, she wanted to find the best thing to say to her in a situation like that. She patiently put the steak she’s been cooking on the plate and added the mash potato and veggies too.
“Do you want my honest opinion?” she offered her while serving her dinner.
Hazel let out a long sigh, “Pleaaase …”
Claire smiled, “You’re both so young, you might not even be aware of how young you are … I mean, seventeen, I can vaguely remember what it was like when I was your age, and looking back from now … whatever problem I had back then, everything turned out alright.”
“Mom …” Hazel whined, “That’s not helping.”
Claire laughed lightly, “I’m sorry, what I’m trying to say is … you have no idea how many people you haven’t met yet .. both of you … there are so many things you’re going to experience and you will meet so many people along the way.” She put down her spatula, “He may be the one for you, or maybe not … if he is … and if you are meant to be together, trust me, you will find your way back to each other no matter what … just give yourselves time to live your lives, meet other people, enjoy every moment of it and decide … who’s the best person to spend your days with, give yourself some options … give him the chance to do that too.”
“So you’re saying I should break up with him?”
Her mom held her hand and squeezed, “I’m saying … don’t make promises you can’t keep … think about it rationally, you don’t have to be so committed at your age … Lee’s leaving because he knows this is important for his future, you should find something equally important so you don’t have to be hung up on him when he’s away.”
Claire sat on the stool across from her and sighed, “I know he’s your first and it’s hard … really really hard … and he’s sweet too, I have to admit, I’m pretty happy with your choice there, he’s a nice kid … but this is the truth … give yourself the chance to be with a second, a third, or however many there will be … let him go … let yourself go too and not be committed to something that is still unsure.”
Hazel went quiet, she never saw it from this perspective. She was too focused on how much she wanted to always be with him. She was too naive to see that relationships doesn’t always last for so many reasons, and didn’t realize that this relationship was going to end because of this reason.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” her mom interrupted her thought.
Hazel somehow knew what she was going to ask, the million dollar question, “No, mom, we haven’t done it yet.”
There was a breath of relieve from Claire, “I wouldn’t do it now if I were you … ’cause losing yourself to someone is a huge thing … it may influence your decisions on other important things,” she shrugged, “But that’s just my opinion.”
That was what she treasured most for having Claire as her mom, she never imposed her own opinion on her. She’s not the kind of mom who tells her kids that she knows best. Claire simply shared her thoughts and advise them on what she thinks is best and let her kids make their own decisions. That’s also why her kids listened to her.
“Oh … mom … I just remembered something.”
Claire looked at her with anticipation.
“You won’t believe who just moved into town.”