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Turning Points for Better and Worse
Facing Anorexia, Dishonesty and Separation
An Excerpt (Part Two)
By Cheryl Dellasega, Ph.D.
I am amazed, and watch this scenario happen a few more times over the years. It's as if once I get out of the way, she can finally begin to deal with her stuff instead of foisting it off on me. Finally, I start developing some backbone.
Lydia makes another best friend and lives at her house most of the time. She is in full war paint and far too thin. Men of all ages are at her feet. I hate this, hate finding lacy lingerie in the dryer. When she turns 18, she moves back into my house. She is going to the community college where I teach. Everything changes as she sees me in action and decides that what I do as an English professor is wonderful. The school is small, and everyone knows and loves her. She gets a job in the Writing Center as a tutor and saves up all the complaints she receives about me from my students. Since we have different last names, students don't realize she is my daughter and are shocked when they find out. She and I become allies against stupidity, but there is a brittle pride in it all as I watch the child I knew come back to me, along with the adolescent brashness that says, "I will not be walked on. I will not be ignored."
Dolly Bell, Washington
