It's Different This Time

by Joss Richard

I have yet to land any roles. Auditioning in a room with your competition is not only laborious but trying for your self-esteem. There’s always someone who’s a better dancer, who can belt it out louder, or who chooses a better monologue.

“June,” his mom breathes out, smiling. She looks fragile, but her spirit is strong. “Finally,” she says, and pulls me into a hug, and it feels like a hug I’ve been waiting for my whole life. It’s the kind of embrace I never received as a child, the kind that makes you feel loved and protected. I think of a toddler coming out of a pool and being wrapped in a towel by their mother, receiving a tenderness you would never know existed until you feel it for yourself.

Family. It’s a word that most people take for granted. To say you have a family is a privilege, a birthright. For the first time, I finally know what it feels like to be wanted, to be loved…and it’s the best feeling in the world.