From the archive

Your parents don't always want you to live your own life

Your parents can love you and have absolutely no idea who you are. Those two things coexist just fine. They remember when you were afraid of the dark, and somehow think that's enough to decide where you should live at thirty-five. You changed. They might not have noticed. They've kept a version of you who needed to put on a hat and have his homework checked. Now they're recommending a wife and a mortgage to that version. And when the real you starts objecting, they treat it like a malfunction. He used to be such a normal kid. What happened to him? He fucking grew up. It happens sometimes.