Ever had a "rude awakening"? How did you react to it? Did you get angry? Just feel surprised? Cry?

This morning I confessed to my mom something I haven't really told anybody. It led to this whole big conversation... We never have those, but I'm always glad when we do. It helps us grow closer.

Anyway. This wasn't the most lighthearted of Big Conversations. In it, my mom opened me up to the realization that the world is not the perfect, happy place I had thought, or hoped, it was. I started crying after we talked. And I thought of when I was a little girl--the things I was into: fairies, princesses, happy endings. As I was crying on the couch, it hit me--hard: the world is no fairy tale.

My eyes have since dried. But I can still feel the tiredness in them from beaucoup de larmes, or beaucoup de pleurer.

I've lived a sheltered life. And I'm going to college in a few weeks. I probably have many more "rude awakenings" waiting for me...

-Stephanie