Susannah's Dilemma

"We love you Susannah. Now, come here and give papa a big hug and a kiss on the cheek."

"Dad, mom, I love you too. I just wish I could stay in this house all by myself. Why do I have to go live with Auntie and Uncle?"

"It's only temporary Susannah. Besides, it would be irresponsible and unsafe to leave my 16 years old daughter all alone in a house. What would you do if anything happened to you? Two are better than one. Always remember that love." (Said mom with much grief of leaving me behind too.)

"But why didn't you invite me to your annual fishing trip?"

'"No Susannah, don't be mistaken, you chose this yourself. We asked you if you wanted to come with us or go with Auntie, you said: "I don't feel like being sick and throwing up in the sea again. So I'll go with Auntie this year." "' (Said dad with clear unhappiness in his voice.)

2 Weeks Later...

"Thomas, I haven't seen Susannah the whole day, do you think she's ok?"

"I think she's depressed, we should go talk to her, if she opens the door."

"It's easy to make her open the door silly, you just have to bring something she likes."

"And what would that be, oh Wise Alexandrah?"

"Go get some hot chocolate, that would be much better than your sarcasm."

A bit later...

"I have something good for you, my niece."

"What do you want, Auntie?"

"I know you love hot chocolate, and... I do have a cup for you."

"REALLY?" (I opened the door with much excitement)

"Now, my niece, tell me what's on your mind. You haven't been yourself lately."

"I don't know. It's just... I wish I had more freedom, like... more control over the small things in my life. I'm just frustrated to be without my parents. But I want to be alone at the same time. I don't know, everything's so confusing."

"They are indeed confusing, but you're not going anywhere with that indecisiveness either."

"It's not my fault if I'm indecisive. What am I to do? I'm only 16."

"Your mind's too full. A break is what you need. And I do have an idea for you.

"What's that?"

"Taking pleasure in the small wonders of life. There's cloud-gazing, star-gazing, tree, car, plane, even wave gazing. All of which can be done on the beach. The choice is yours."

"But..."

"I don't want to hear it. Quit your indecisiveness! You're going tomorrow, I'll even give you my train pass."

"But, what about you Auntie?"

"Me and Thomas will be busy. Either way, it's what you wanted, is it not? Having free space! there's much liberty on the beach, plus it's a great place to free your mind."

Tomorrow, on the beach...

Dad, we are enjoying the same views. Beautiful waves, fresh air, the coasts and islands from afar, the seashells. Liberty! Freedom!!!

Auntie was right, going to the beach is really a great way to free my mind from the chains of confusion. But I can't help, but think of you.

I turned my head to see a family building a big sand sculpture of a cat jumping onto a chair to reach a table.

"Wow, so cool, I would build one [sculpture] too, but I don't have a shovel." (I said, while approaching them.)

"Oh don't worry about that. You see the shack a little bit uphill? you can go there to borrow shovels. To be honest, we didn't bring ours either." (Said one of the family members.)