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but if you tell us this isn’t the case, then we believe you. You

didn’t come in here starry eyed and believing in nonsense.

You’re more like your mother and I than you realize. We’ve

both done our fair share of fighting for what we wanted, and

we don’t give up easily. I’m proud that you came to talk to us

tonight instead of accusing us. You didn’t come for a battle,

you came to try to understand. That shows real maturity, and I

think we can both trust your judgment.”

Emily couldn’t believe it. All along, she’d thought of her

mom and dad as some sort of nemesis. Something she had to

overcome. She hadn’t realized just how much they wanted to

help her. It was her own attitude, the way she looked at them,

that had been a big part of the problem.

While they hadn’t listened to her, she really had never

shown them that she had a solid plan that was worth

consideration. That she’d fight for her future. She’d whined a

lot about the things she didn’t want to do, but she’d never

actually stood up and made them believe she was an adult and

willing to learn what it took to take care of herself and not just

have everything provided for her, from the clothes she wore to

the food she ate, the car she drove, to the classes she attended.

And when she’d come out, her father asked for discretion

because of his career, but neither of them had ever tried to tell

her that she was wrong or that she didn’t know her own mind,

or that they didn’t love her because she wasn’t going to marry

a man and live a conventional life. They’d never told her not

to find a partner, they’d just asked that she be careful.

Emily now understood. When people were young and

thought they were in love, they could be careless and reckless,

and that could hurt a lot of people. She could easily have done