I loved our family times where we shared everything we had to. There was complete transparency in the family. If some outsider saw us, they would see the love for each other of us in the air and our eyes. No one could separate us. I had always heard this line, “ Even if you do something wrong- as wrong it is, never be scared to tell us as we’ll support you till the end of the matter.”
And I had always agreed. But, when something wrong really happened, I was scared to tell them. I was horrified at what I had done. My parents had sent me to a hostel for the two years after class tenth so that I could study and get into a nice college. But, things didn’t turn out as it had to.
All my life I had been praised for how I made good friends and I could judge character well. It didn’t turn out like that in the hostel. I fell into wrong company and smoked. I even took drugs and was scared to reveal it to my parents.
Against my wishes, I had to return back to my house during the festival of lights, aka, Diwali. My family immediately came to know that something was wrong with me as I had lost a lot of weight and looked gaunt.
They didn’t pressure me for the details, but I could see that they wanted it. I was scared to tell them. We had a family session, but I didn’t spill anything then. In the free time I had I re-acquainted with my friends and shared everything with them. They gave me moral support. They were a bit disappointed in me, but stood with me. This gave me support and strength to go and share this with my family.
So, when the next session happened before the day I was supposed to leave, I spilled everything. I could see the frown my dad’s face and the tears rolling down from my mother’s face. I was looking at the floor because I couldn’t meet their eyes anymore. Instead of shouting at me or hitting me, they went in their room to discuss this. This made me more dejected than what I would have felt than if they would have scolded me.
I kept waiting and I made a promise to myself that I would never do this again. They came out of their room and said the words which I’ll never forget in my life, “Son, everyone makes mistakes in their life on Earth. Even I made some when I was a kid. We think that you are plagued by self guilt now, and by looking at you- I think you’ve already thought about this and made a vow or something like that to leave this crap. Focus on your studies.”
I had never cried so much. I got up and hugged them hard. From that day onwards I studied hard and never indulged in bad practices.
Today I gave the exam for SAT, I scored in the top 20 of India. My parents were crying with tears of happiness and I was jumping with joy.
That family time was the one which filled me with optimism and made me what I am today.
This post has been written for a campaign for Housing.com
