Xpress, the Coolest Section of the St. Petersburg Times, is the home for features, news and views of interest to young readers. Most of the work in Xpress, which appears on Mondays in Floridian, is produced by the Times' X-Team. The team of journalists ages 9-17 from around the Tampa Bay area is selected every year at the end of the school year to serve during the following school term. The current team of 12 was chosen out of 150 applicants. Watch for X-Team application forms in Xpress during the month of May.
Read the reviews by Xpress Film Critic Billy Norris
IT!
College calls, but family beckons too
Second of two parts.
By CECILIA TUCKER
Published May 24, 2004
I'll be on my way to college soon, and I am realizing I am going to miss lots of important times with my family. Last week I told you how I felt about not being at the dinner table anymore with my family. As this past week went by, some of my friends told me how lucky I was to have had a family all these years to have meals with and how they wished they'd had my family.
Anyway, dinnertime can be really annoying at our house, but it is also a time each night when we reconnect. I am afraid the dinner hour may be a lonely hour for me when I go away to school. When I hear my family come and go now, I know life will go on when I go away to school.
When I am gone, I fear that everyone at home will forget about me. My sister forgets about me sometimes even now, and my brother is in his own little world most of the time. So why should I think that when I go away things will get better? I will probably be "out of sight, out of mind" for them, but I am sure my parents will remember my birthday.
It is funny that I am getting all sentimental as I plan to leave home for the first time. I am reflecting on how spoiled I am. Perhaps it is not about who did my laundry, cleaned my room, made my bed, or cooked my food. Maybe all of my feelings are about what I will miss: arguments with my siblings or fighting over whose turn it is to choose a TV show.
Maybe I am just afraid I will be homesick because there is no family life at college; college is all about friends and freedom, not family - right?
I am losing my safety net, and I am afraid. Going from a place where I have been comfortable, used to the noises, smells, creaks and sights is beginning to spook me. Strangers will greet me when I enter the door each night to go into my new residence. My room at school will look and smell weird and my room at home is in transition - which one will seem like home?
I'll wake up to strangers in the middle of the night. Will they respect my need to sleep, study and have privacy? When I get sick, I will be comforted - or not comforted - by people who really don't care about me and know my medical past. Will anyone go to the drugstore and get my medicine for me? If I need to get to the doctor, who will take me? What if I need to go home or go to the hospital? Will someone get me there quickly and then will my parents make it in time for me to get treatment?
I just want to go home and stay there, but pretty soon it will be time for me to go to college. I am not a "Toys R Us" kid anymore; it is time for me to leave home and be on my own. But trust me, this is not easy.
Mom and Dad, I will miss you; I will miss the rest of my family, too.
- IT! Private thoughts of the Indomitable Teen is written by Cecilia Tucker under the editorial guidance of a panel of teenagers (in exchange for pizza and volunteer hours). Tucker is a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Counseling Center for New Direction in Seminole. Comments are welcome. You may write c/o: IT!, Xpress, the Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail Floridian@sptimes.com If you are interested in being on the teen editorial panel, please contact Cecilia Tucker at revcecilia@msn.com
