Claiming What's Mine

dent sitting acros

k at the end of her junior year and had her choice of top-notch universities all over the country. Since she’s a state champion swimmer who lettered freshman year and broke two school records in the four hundred breaststrok

ything look effortless. She appears to have it all. It would be easy to hate her

re so proud of everything she’d accomplished. All she could see were her dreams and the future she had worked so hard to secure slipping t

ess -flicker across their faces. I give them a lot of credit for not getting upset or flying off the

so that she can commute to a local community college, where she’ll begin taking classes next spring. Her bo

ced change and is doing what she can to succeed by adjusting her expect

pop in almost daily. And some only require a quick check-in every few weeks to make sure they’re on track and aren’t falling behind. O

. She checks in and chats about how classes are going and how she’s handling

peared tired, drawn, and pale the past few weeks. My heart goes out to the eighteen-year-old

asn’t been able to keep much down. There were days when she had difficulty making it to school on time. She emailed me in the morning to let me know she was too nauseous to l

e others in her course load-Spanish V, Anatomy, Literature, and Psychology. But now, she’s struggling. Even though it broke her heart to stop training, she couldn’t continue with such a rigorous

sl

g a lot of that

y doctor prescribed some medicine last wee

have more color

st I can keep my breakfast down in

t of control. It’s always easier to stay ahead of the train than be run over by it. “You’re keeping up with homework and studying?” I know AP Ca

nce I was five years old. It’s weird to have so much free time on my hands.” Sadness creeps into her eyes. “I really miss

something you love, or at least putting it on hold, isn’t easy. “You can still get in the wa

“It wouldn’t

’s no reason you can’t get back into c