Courage and Living Life Freely

It was a beautiful autumn day. The crisp air felt so good. I could smell the pleasing and familiar aroma coming from Johnson's Bakery. Today just seemed like a wonderful day. However, today was not going to be a wonderful day, because today is the day that I was going to tell my parents that I won't be continuing the long-standing family business of working in the Johnson Bakery. I felt terrified as I was walking home from the bakery.

As I shuffled my feet my thoughts raced through my mind. What if they are disappointed in me?  Ugh, of course, they are going to be disappointed in me. I am entirely wrecking the tradition of every child born from the same generation as my Great-Great-Great-Grandmother to work in the bakery as soon as they reach the age of twelve.

I arrived home and walked up the porch steps and into the living room where my dad was watching football and my mom was flickering through a book about famous bakers.  Here goes nothing, I thought.

"Hey, mom and dad," I said.

"Hi sweetie," my mom replied with a smile.

"Um... Mom, Dad, I need to talk to you guys", I told them in a nervous voice.

“Ok, come sit down,” my dad replied.  As I took a seat next to my dad, I could feel my palms start to get sweaty, I swallowed my hesitation and blurted it out.

“You guys are not going to like this, but I do not want to continue working in the family bakery.”

       “Not acceptable, you are going to continue to work in the bakery Oliva”, my mom replied without any emotion in her tone. 

“Mom, I just want to be a normal high school girl; I want to be able to hang out with my friends after school! All I ever do is go to school, then go to work, and then I come home, eat my dinner, do my homework, and then I go to bed,” I told my mom in a frustrated voice.

“Well, she does have a point. Maybe she can only work on the weekends,” my dad nicely pointed out.

“No! That is my final answer and it is not up for debate!” my mom replied with rage.

“It is up for debate! We will compromise and Olivia will have some time off of work in the week,” my father confidently told my mother.

“Fine!” my mom grumbled.

“Yes! Thank you, mom, and dad!” I exclaimed.

The next day, at breakfast, my mom and dad told me that I did not have to work every day. My mom told me that I would be working on the weekends and on Mondays and Wednesdays. However, I did not have work on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Thanks, you have absolutely no idea how much this means to me, I told them, gratefully. Your welcome sweetie my dad told me. 

“You know I always have lived my life so strictly. My mother was very strict with me when I was a child. As a child, I wanted to live my life freely. However, by the time I was about your age, I just learned that my mother wouldn’t allow that. Olivia, I am so sorry if I ever made you feel that feeling of not being allowed to live your own life, and having to always do what your mother wanted you to do. I know that feeling and it is such a horrible feeling. Once again, I apologize for the way I have treated you and I hope you can forgive me.” My mom told me.

“Of course, I will forgive you. I also want to thank you for telling me that, it meant a lot.”

“No problem sweetie”, my mom told me with a smile.

Later that day, after school, I was on my way home, when I got a text from my friend, Lexi. It said, “Hey Olivia, want to go grab some coffee, with Julie and Eve? I will pick you up in fifteen minutes or so if you want.” I replied, “Sure, Thanks for asking!” That was awesome! I was able to actually say yes and not have to say that I had work. This afternoon is going to be so much fun. I thought to myself.

That evening when I came home from the coffee shop, I ran into the living room and I told my mom about how much fun I had, and I thanked her once again. You are so welcome Oliva, I am so glad you had fun with your friends. She replied.

That is the story about how Olivia was able to live a normal high school life. All Olivia had to do was build up a little bit of courage and it drastically changed her life.

Afterward…….

 Olivia continued working for four days of the week for the rest of High school. After High school, she convinced her mom to not have her work at the bakery at all, so she could go to college. She had received a scholarship to go to a college where she could learn how to become a better baker. After college, she was able to become a famous baker and she opened up a new shop. Olivia wanted her workers in her shop to be able to live their life freely and to have courage. That is why she named her bakery, “ Baking with Courage and living life freely.” A lot of people thought it was a weird name, and they made fun of her, but Olivia did not care. She did not care if people made fun of the name of her bakery, she just wanted everyone to know that her bakery is more than just a place where you can get a lot of yummy baked goods, it is a place where you can learn how to live life your own way and a place where you can learn to have courage.  Olivia was very grateful that she was able to build up her courage or else she would have never been able to be living the life that she was living.