As my song comes to a close and I sing that final pitch, I look out into the crowd. The exact crowd that was standing there for my first ever Hannah Montana concert. i struggling to find my uncle, hoping love overcomes that urge known by many. A sudden disappointment fills my lungs while my eyes try to fight the fast coming tears. I rush off stage as tears gush out of me like a fast paced waterfall. My dad rushes to me with arms spread wide.
"You did it!" he said, erupting in tears of joy. "You overcame your biggest fear, and you got a standing ovation and everything."
"Whatever," I said, quickly, sucking in a mixture of salty tears and boogies. "Can we just go home?"
"What's wrong bud?" he asks, a sense of worry lurking close by in his voice.
"Nothing," I say, seeing wonder overcome worry as quick as you can say 'hippity-hoppity'. he nods and leads me away from the stage, out the doors and onto the slippery ice arena that is the parking lot. Getting into the car, I glimpse toward the entrance of the arena just in time to see a car race into the parking lot. As it comes closer, turning the corners sharp, I struggle to see who is behind the wheel. As the shiny, black Volvo screeches to a stop beside us, I see that the driver is my uncle, drunk as a hobo.
As he opens the door and I roll down my window, his slurred words come out of his mouth apologetically, though hardly bearable to understand. I stare at him until I blink, and nod toward my dad. he senses the hint and slowly pulls out, trying not to hit his disgrace of a brother. As I roll up my window and my streaming tears come to an ultimate stop, I think of all the other times my uncle has disappointed me. Concerts, track meets, softball games; everything not important enough for him to come and see his own niece perform at her best.
As we drove off into the blackness of the night, I realized that I didn't need him in my life anymore, not after everything he has done to me. Although I didn't need to lose another family member, I just couldn't keep living with the hope that he would one day come and support me in all of my accomplishments. I could live perfectly fine with my wonderful father, brother, and best friends. Life will go on.