A Hostel Situation

Yesterday I mentioned that we would contunue the saga of parent versus offspring.  Allow me to begin by describing my hypocrasy.  I believe in absolute honesty.  When my little cousin asks for life advice, I always accompany it "Inform your parents, even if they don't want to hear it."  Honesty, specifically with parents, is a challenge for all of us.  We tell ourselves that we are protecting them by omitting pieces of our lives, but the truth is that when we lie we do it to avoid personal discomfort.  We are avoiding a fight.  We are struggling with the idea that despite their vast wealths of experience, it is WE (the children) that know better.  Young people often believe themselves more enlightened than their progenitors, and each generation presents this belief with a certain amount of arrogence and defiance (while secretly AGONIZING about the tears and stress we cause our mothers).

I curse myself with this right now: My children WILL do this to me.

This was my lie.  As previously mentioned, my parents had a certain discomfort with my leaving.  I had decided that for the first four days of my trip, I wanted to book a bed at a hostel.  If they knew, they would insist to put me up in a Holiday Inn.  This would have isolated me in a HUGE foreign city, while a hostel would provide me with community, advice and a fat cat named Jasper.  So I told them I was staying with an ex-roommate in the Bronx.  I informed my friend of the story, but by the time I was settled in, watching Robin William's "Hook" with my new friends, the ruse was already discovered.

"Your mother has been crying for hours!" Dad exploded over the phone.  "We had to call an ambulance when her blood pressure topped 200!" I barely responded.  "Shaun sure did a fine job teaching you how to lie!"  He continued to cut, "I bet you don't even have an internship!"

My mother also called the NYPD, a futile attempt as I had done nothing illegal and was not a minor.

The phone call ended and my stomach pitched.  I doubted myself.  The movie rolled on, nostalgic and familiar.  Inside the hostel, I almost can forget that I'm so far from home: just another couch in another living room, reminicsing about Pete and Pete and Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles with new friends.

Tomorrow: an adventure with Brett, demystifying Brooklyn, and I start my internship!