Everyone expects Val to stay close to home and live a simple life. They do not expect her to have big dreams and wild ambitions. They know only what she lets them know. It is easy because they do not ask that many questions. The truth is Val wants to get as far away from this place as possible. Her grandparents want her to take over the family business, but she is not really into the whole teaching thing. It does not appeal to her the way it has appealed to everyone else in her family. Despite what Val wants to do, she’s found herself settling and she deserves more than that. Next week, she will show them the scholarship she got to an art school. It is far enough away from tradition to piss off Val’s grandfather but too far that her grandmother will not ever talk to her again. She is done watching other people cross the line. She is tired of seeing the line repainted in the same place every time. Val is going to walk up to that line, cross it and then create a whole new one. Val had always been that quiet girl in the corner that always listened. Not anymore. She wants to be the risk-taker. She wants to be the one that people will be amazed by. When she goes to this school a few states away, her art will astonish people. She will push the art boundaries and watch as people’s jaws drop. Val clutches the letter in her hand at the hospital. Her mother’s eyes are closed, the machine’s beep is steady and Val knows that she is listening. Val unfolds the letter slowly and reads it aloud in a hushed voice, like it is a precious secret. Right now, it is something precious between Val and her mother. It’s what her mother always dreamed of and what Val will achieve for the both of them.
Everyone expects Val to stay close to home and live a simple life. They do not expect her to have big dreams and wild ambitions. They know only what she lets them know. It is easy because they do not ask that many questions. The truth is Val wants to get as far away from this place as possible. Her grandparents want her to take over the family business, but she is not really into the whole teaching thing. It does not appeal to her the way it has appealed to everyone else in her family. Despite what Val wants to do, she’s found herself settling and she deserves more than that. Next week, she will show them the scholarship she got to an art school. It is far enough away from tradition to piss off Val’s grandfather but too far that her grandmother will not ever talk to her again. She is done watching other people cross the line. She is tired of seeing the line repainted in the same place every time. Val is going to walk up to that line, cross it and then create a whole new one. Val had always been that quiet girl in the corner that always listened. Not anymore. She wants to be the risk-taker. She wants to be the one that people will be amazed by. When she goes to this school a few states away, her art will astonish people. She will push the art boundaries and watch as people’s jaws drop. Val clutches the letter in her hand at the hospital. Her mother’s eyes are closed, the machine’s beep is steady and Val knows that she is listening. Val unfolds the letter slowly and reads it aloud in a hushed voice, like it is a precious secret. Right now, it is something precious between Val and her mother. It’s what her mother always dreamed of and what Val will achieve for the both of them.
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