My Independence

I think the greatest symbol of my independence during my week at home occurred on the Fourth when I smoked a cigarette in front of my mother. We were at the family's lake cottage and Mom's sisters decided that they needed a smoke break. They invited their oldest nephew to join them for his company.

I want you to picture this: My mom, her two sisters, and me in the middle of a dirt road, 50 feet from the cottage's property. We made sure that there were plenty of trees and bushes between us and the house so that husbands and children would not see us. I had a cigarette in one hand and a high-ball glass (a Manhattan made by 89 year-old Uncle Harry) in the other. The look on my mother's face said, "But you were an honor roll student."