The Mirror

IT's not always accurate

The mirror on the wall in LeeAnn’s dorm room didn’t lie, but it didn’t tell the full story either.

Today she looked into it and stuck out her tongue, as she had been doing for the past two months.

At 19 and a sophomore in college, LeeAnn had everything to smile about. She had received an academic scholarship and lettered in two sports in high school.

But that was then and this was now.

Her phone buzzed to life and saw it was her father’s number.

“Hmm,” she thought. “Must be important. He never calls me at school on a weekday.”

“Hi Dad!” LeeAnn said.

“Hey, Baby Girl. How’s it going? Did I get you in the middle of anything?”

“Why does he use such terms?” she thought. “I’m a grown woman, not his little baby girl anymore,”

“Naa, just studying a bit.”

“Listen, I don’t need to know right now but if you’re not doing anything Saturday night, I wanted to see if you wanted to do dinner with your Old Man? Your mom’s going on a retreat of some sort, and I’m batching it for the weekend.”

There was really no reason to turn him down. Both of the boys she had been dating had dumped her for others, and she didn’t have any interest in anyone else at the moment.

“Love to. Say 6 o’clock in front of my dorm. You remember how to get to it, don’t you? And are you sure you want to drive two hours to see me? You know I’ll be home in a few weeks after classes are out.”

“Positive I want to. Oh yeah, I remember that little fork in the road I need to take. I won’t keep you long. I know you’re probably busy. See you then, Sweetie.”

She hung up and looked back at the mirror. Nothing had changed except for a phone call. She still had papers to write, a speech or two to give and plenty to study for, but was more or less caught up with studies.

She stared into her own eyes without looking away or blinking.

Why the sadness?

Why the depression?

She wouldn’t break the stare because it was her she was thinking about. She had nothing to despair over. Everything was going well and she was meeting her father in a few days.

“He’s willing to drive two hours for just an hour with me. That’s gotta count for something,” she said out loud.

“You are a truly blessed lady,” she thought. “Don’t take it for granted. Lots of girls would kill for a relationship with their father like this.”

LeeAnn opened her phone and clicked on her message app, and sent a text to her father, “Love you, Dad. See you Saturday!”

And then she sent a second, “Your baby girl :)”