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happened to fit me, and I wore them a couple
of years later at my junior and senior proms.

While typical prom dresses can cost several
hundred dollars, I only had to pay for my
ticket, and otherwise, prom was free. A dress
from a truck might not be the typical gift a
mother bestows upon her daughter during
prom season, but I take what I can get.

When I graduated high school in June
2012, my mother came out to Maryland to see
me. She had visited me in this way a couple
times before, and each trip had ended in
disaster. When I was around age eight, she
decided to “clean” my room, and thus
rearrange every single belonging I had. I
couldn’t find my library card for six months. I
told my aunt and uncle I did not want her
doing so again, so I asked them to expressly
forbid her from doing it. They understood and
did, in turn, ask her to refrain.

“Why don’t you want me cleaning your
room?” she demanded. I looked toward my
aunt and uncle, slightly bothered that they
had apparently told her the request came from
me, specifically.

“Well, the last time you did, I lost my
library card for half a year,” I said.

“But that was so long ago! Do you really
still care about that?”

I did.

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