Sometime during my sophomore year of high school, I made a suggestion to my uncle. Having met with my guidance counselor and counted my credits, I realized that I would have enough credits -- though just barely -- to graduate one year early. My uncle's response was a quick and firm "no." Since I had skipped first grade, I was already one of the youngest students in my grade, and graduating early meant that I'd be just two months past my 15th birthday. He thought that I was simply too young and too immature.
Later during the school year, I made another suggestion -- that I be allowed to finish my last two years at boarding school. I'd met a girl at "fat camp" the summer before who attended boarding school and said she enjoyed not living at home. Again, my suggestion was rejected. During the brief time that my younger brother lived at home (between discharge from the juvenile psychiatric facility and being remanded to the adult psychiatric hospital [at the age of 14]), my uncle and his wife had placed him in a nearby boarding school. He'd lasted only a couple months before being expelled. Since boarding school tuition is non-refundable, my thrifty uncle had lost quite a bit of money with that venture.
That didn't stop me from asking again, several more times that year. However, each time I was told that boarding school was not a possibility.
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| No graduating early, no boarding school, no getting out of the house anytime soon. |
