Define Your Own Success

In the second semester of my sophomore year, I dropped out of college. I was a student at Kenyon, a small liberal arts school in Gambier, OH. On that morning, I stood in the parking lot of my dorm, my dad had flown from New York City to pick me up and we loaded the last of my boxes into the trunk of my seafoam green Volvo. My creative writing professor, a well -known writer in residence, who had become a mentor to me, came to see me off. As I picked up the last bag, he and my dad exchanged glances. My father, could only shake his head and tilt his hands up to the sky, as if to say, ‘this is my daughter.’ My professor smiled back at him, commiserating, and walked to give me a hug. He put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye and said, “there are a lot of people here who care about you, who think you are making a mistake by leaving,” I winced, but he continued, “now go out there kid, and prove us wrong.”