Flight
Dear Mom, Richard, and Frank,
I already apologized for the things I said when I was upset, but I'm still sorry. I was so sick of trying to fit into this cookie-cutter, picture-perfect, all-American family. I just wanted to be left alone, to do my own thing and chase my own dreams. I could see Mom trying to be someone she wasn't, sneaking cigarettes in the car and playing the cheerful pageant mom she would never be. Richard was selling a plan for success, playing a "winner" when he was just as big a loser as the rest of us with his failed 12-step program. Frank tried to kill himself over a failed relationship and a professional rivalry. I didn't want to be part of that mess, and when my dream was ruined, I wanted everybody else to feel it, too, because I felt like all your failures dragged me down. We aren't some perfect American family--surprise! You might not be perfect (and neither am I), but you're my family. I'm sorry I blamed you for what happened, and that I turned on you when I was angry and frustrated. Like Frank told me, I can't sleep through my suffering--and I can't fly away from it either, and I know that now.
Love,
Dwayne