Epiphany
...same halls and answering the same questions without any palpable goal in sight. I would look at other people around me with envy; the ones who were taller, didn’t have braces, had a lot of relationships, could get around without their parents, won their athletic endeavors with ease, and some who made playing an instrument as easy and natural as eating a cookie. As my frustration with my own mediocrity soon became an accepted state of mind, I became bored with my circumstances. I guess I figured that I would never be able to entertain myself so I was constantly on the look out for something that would do the job for me. I tried revisiting my usual hallmarks of happiness: movies, songs, and even friends. Yet all of these old loves somehow seemed to reflect my own staleness, which I was tired of to begin with. The summer after that monotonous sophomore year my mom decides that I should start digging a ditch for a pathway on the side of our house. My dad’s engineered plan called for the hole to be about 1 foot deep, 36 inches wide, and 73 feet long. A long hole which would be considered a burden to anyone charged with the task of digging it. So a week after the last day of school, I go out with work out clothes and a stereo. The stereo is plugged into the wall to conserve the batteries and one of the Harry Potter books on tape was inserted. I started to dig at approximately 10 o’clock. By 2 o’clock, my shorts and shoes were covered in dirt, my shirt was soaking with sweat, the gloves had a hole in them, the shovel was squeak...