Penoptic

Just over 13 years ago, I got into my parents' car to drive to a motel near LAX airport. It was August 2001, and the ultimate destination for my parents and I was Bryn Mawr College outside of Philadelphia, Penn., where I was about to start college. There are many things I remember about the days that followed, but the first night of my trip to the east coast? That night itself is mostly a blur. The only thing I really remember about the trip to the airport that August night is fear. I don't really know where that fear came from--I'd started packing for college about five months earlier, and planning for it at about 8 years of age. Now the day was finally here, and all I could feel was fear mixed with sadness. I was 17 years old, so ready for the chance for a little independence from my overbearing family and from classmates who, like most teenagers, thought they knew who I was without hardly speaking a word to me. I only had one or two really close friends, and they were ...