As I walk through the door I'm thinking of tonight. What I'm going to say and how they will react. We are having aspecial dinner tonight for my birthday, this is when
I plan to tell them. As Anne and I walk upstairs I see my mother sitting on my bed. "Connie you are home! Look what I picked out for you." There on my bed laid a
beautiful white and yellowed checkered dress. The knee length skirt was poofy and you could see the underlayers of the skirt hang out. It covered all of the chest area
and had short sleeves. I had to admit, it was beautiful. I was stunned she bought me a dress I atually liked. "Oh wow, thank you mother." She looked up at me "Oh it's
your birthday, don't act so suprised. Now go wash up, and I will get you ready for tonight" She was excited. It's not everyday I let her dress me up and put makeup on
me like I'm her doll. I wash up and head back into my room and put on my dress. She whacks make up on my face and shoves some pins in my hair and tells me to look in
the mirror. I did look nice. Mother let out a small squeal. "You look so beatiful!" I smiled at her.
We began walking down the stairs, my heart was racing. I am only minutes away from telling my parents my life plan. And only minutes away from them yelling at me and
disagreeing with me. As I walked down the stairs my father and sister were standing waititing for me. Both dressed up for this occasion. "Darling you look beautiful,"
my Father said smiling. "So do you," I said back to him. He pulled me in for a hug and kissed me on the cheek. "Happy Birthday," he pulled out a small pink box with
gold ribbon. "Thank you Daddy," I pulled the ribbon and opened the box. Inside layed a jewlery case. I pulled it out and opened it up. It was a pearl necklace with
matching pearl earings. I gave him another hug. "They are real pearls to. I had to get the best for my little girl," he added while mother put them on me. We all sat
around the long wooden table saying grace. We lsughed and talked about our day while eating dinner. Then a maid brang out a large 3 layered pink cake, that we
certainly would not be able to finsih. The candles were lit, and my family was singing happy birthday to me. As I blew out the candles I wished for my dream to come
true. I know it's cliche, but that is truly what I wanted. I was served a slice of cake. I picked up my fork. My palms were sweating and my heart was continuing to beat faster. "So, Connie, since we know you won't be having
children anytime soon without a man in your life," my mother laughed, "have you decided what college you want to go to?" "Well.... that's something I was going to....
uh..... discuss with you tonight...." You could tell I was nervous. Everyone was looking at me now. That made me feel even more uneasy. "I wanted to do something else
with my life. Something that doesn't envolve college...." Mother had a strange look on her face. There was a silence at the table. I could hear the heavy rain pound
down on the roof. I looked over at Anne. She looked worried. Dad was the first to speak, "Like what?" I looked down at my plate. "Well... I wanted to be a dancer..."
Dad frowned. "Dancing is just a hobbie Connie." I looked up at him, "but father, I want to make a career out of it." "Don't be silly Connie, dancing is not a career.
You can't earn a living off of it." My heart sunk. No. They can't control my future, I get to choose what I want to do with my life. If I want to follow my dreams and
do something I love for a living, then I will. They can't stop me. "It wasn't a question. This is my choice, this is what I'm doing. I'm just letting you know." Father
looked angry now. "I'm not going to let you throw your life away, when we have the money to build you a future! Stop being selfish Connie, there are so many people in
the world who aren't as fortunate as you, yet you want to waste everything you have, everything your mother and I gave to you?" Build me a future? "I want to make my
own future. I want to decide what to do with my life. It is my choice after all. Why should I spend the rest of my life doing something I hate, when I could be doing
something I love? And how am I being selfish? Is it really considered selfish to follow your dreams? Isn't that what you did? But yet, you are saying I cannot do this
because I am a woman?" Father stood up now. " That is enough Connie! You cannot speak to me like that.I am your father, and what I say does. I get to choose what you
do with your life, so I can stop you from making big mistakes like this one!" I was furious now. "Why should you decide what I do with my life? You don't have to live
it. What you want for me is to be a housewife, to sit at home and do nothing but have kids and clean up after my husband. No! I am not going to do that. You can't
force me to do anything!" There was another silent pause. Thunder cracked down. I looked at mother and Anne. They looked horrified. A blast of lightning filled the
windows. The lights went out. "Well isn't that just great," Father laughed. "I dont't see how any of this is funny?" A flash of lightning lit the room up for a split
second. I could see fathers face. He was looking dead at me. He looked disgusted. "Connie get to your room now. I have heard enough of you for one night." He spoke
quietly, which scared me even more. I bit my tongue and held back thr tears and ran up to my room.
