[hadley]
This was it. The day I had been waiting for since I was five.
I took one final look in the mirror and smiled at the thought of being completely done with high school.
It was bittersweet knowing that I would be going off to college at UCLA but having to say goodbye to my friends in the process. Since I live in a small town just north of Salt Lake City, all my friends wanted to stay together and go to a college in our city. I on the other hand, wanted to branch out and leave Utah in general.
I've lived here my whole life and I feel like it's time to go explore the world some more even if it's just two states over.
"Hey Had, can you come down here for a second?" My mom calls for me from the bottom of the staircase.
"Yeah, hang on!" I yell back. I quickly straighten my white dress and fluff my light brown curls one more time before heading to my mom.
"Yes, mother?" I say, walking in to the kitchen.
"Oh, look at my beautiful girl," my mom takes in my appearance and I can't help but smile at her reaction. "All grown up. I wish your dad were here to see you." Her eyes then move to the ground and I know that means she's about to cry.
"Mom, don't cry. Please." I walk over to her, immediately embracing her in a long hug.
"I know, I'm sorry. I know I promised I'd try to be better at that." She sniffles into my hair.
I pull away, looking her straight in the eyes. "You don't ever have to apologize for crying about dad. He died a few months ago, you can cry about him all you want."
My mom lifts her hand up to my cheek and I close my eyes at the feeling. "I love you, Hadley. Forever and always."
I kiss her cheek. "I love you too."
"So what was it you wanted me down here for?" I ask, walking over to the fridge to pull out a water bottle.
"Oh, right, I need you to run to the store for me. I totally forgot about paper plates for tonight's celebration meal. I know the ceremony is in a few hours but I thought you could run to the CVS a few minutes away."
"Yeah, sure." I say, nodding my head.
"Thank you, love, you're the best." My mom kisses me on the forehead and then quietly exists the kitchen.
My dad's death has been really hard on my mom the past few weeks. She never really cried the first couple of months he was gone, maybe because of shock or denial. But now, it's like it 's finally sunk in that my dad won't be coming back home. It was the exact opposite for me. I cried my eyes out everyday for two months and my mom was always there for me, strong as ever. Now, the situation is flipped and I try to be there for her as much as I can.
I grab my car keys from the kitchen counter and head out the door to my car.
The air is beautiful and it's perfect weather for our graduation tonight. The whole four minutes that I ride to CVS I hum songs that play on the radio.
Once I get to the store, I head straight for the paper plates aisle. I want to get out of there as soon as possible so that I don't have a chance of being late to the ceremony. Who knew there were so many paper plates to choose from? Do I want heavy duty plates that come in packs of twenty, or do I want the knock off brand that's not as heavy duty but comes in a pack of forty for the same price? Well I guess if I double up the crappy plates so that there's two of them –
