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Friends Forever Super Special: Graduation Day
So I'm writing a fic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
babysitters100 that I had to do a bit of research for, and I found myself CTRL+F'ing through Graduation Day, only to find Charlie's letter to himself.
OMFG, CHARLIE, BE MORE ADORABLE, WHY DON'T YOU.
babysitters100 that I had to do a bit of research for, and I found myself CTRL+F'ing through Graduation Day, only to find Charlie's letter to himself.OMFG, CHARLIE, BE MORE ADORABLE, WHY DON'T YOU.
Dear Charlie,
I can’t believe you’ll be almost eighteen years old when you read this letter. How does it feel? I guess that’s a stupid question. How does it feel to be any age? I’m thirteen years old now, and I couldn’t tell you how that feels.
But I can tell you about my life and about some parts of it and I am pretty sure have affected me forever. I’ll start with the basic stuff. I’m getting ready to graduate from SMS. In the fall I’ll be going to SHS. (That’s where you’ll be graduating from at the time you read this.) Sam is going into seventh grade in the fall, Kristy is going into fifth, and David Michael will still be in preschool.
It’s been about three years since our father left us. Three very tough years. Mom ahs worked hard to support us. She has tried to do everything for us, and I don’t manta she had bought us a lot of stuff or taken us on trips or anything like that. I just mean she has been a mom and a dad and she has held us all together. I think she is an amazing person.
Mr. Kingbridge told us to write about defining events. Dad’s leaving our family was definitely THE defining event in my life. So much changed after he took off. Mom worked long hours at her new job, which meant she couldn’t be home after school. In the beginning that was the hardest part of all, because David Michael was just a baby. So Mom had to pay for his day care as well as everything else. And Sam and Kristy and I were on our own after school. I was in charge of Sam and Kristy, and it wasn’t easy. But we managed. One think I can say about us Thomas’s is that we pull together. Except for Dad. He is a jerk, a lazy jerk. But if his running away shows us how great we cam be without him, then maybe it was worth it. I am really proud of myself for having helped so much. I have done things that were not always fun, but I like feeling responsible. In fact, I think Sam and Kristy and I all because more responsible people because of Dad. Because of non-Dad. And, of course, because of Mom. She showed us how to be responsible.
I hope I am never as irresponsible as our father was. I take care of things, I finish things, I try to be on time, I keep promises, I try not to let people down, I work hard. Being responsible isn’t easy, but I know how important it is. Being irresponsible is very easy, and it’s cruel to the people you love. Anyone can run away. But not just anyone can stick around to take care of things, especially to take care of his family. If I have a family of my own one day, I will not abandon it. (By the way, I’m not saying people shouldn’t get divorced, especially after they try to work things out. But I am saying they shouldn’t run off without a word.) Just so you know, as I write this, we haven’t heard from our father in almost a year. We don’t even know exactly where he is.
What will my life be like in four years? Well, I guess I’ll be going off to college, if we can afford it. Mom and I will probably have to look into scholarships. I wish I could go somewhere really great like Harvard of Princeton, but those schools cost an arm and a leg. And I don’t want someone else in the family to have to sacrifice something in order for me to go to college. Like, I don’t want my going to college to meant that we can’t afford to sent Sam to college.
Here are I few things I wish for the future:
That maybe Mom will be dating someone nice. She needs another important grown-up in her life.
That Kristy will stop taking herself so seriously.
That we won’t have to pinch every single penny. Maybe I’ll have a great job and can help Mom out. At least until I have to leave for college.
I don’t know. I guess that’s it. Have fun reading this letter again in four years.
- Charlie
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But, yes. Even at 13, he has such an old soul...
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I just melted when I read this. CHARLIE. ♥
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Definitely going to dig out my books and contribute myself!