Writing Assignment: A Moment When You Didn’t Get What You Wanted. #131 of 365 days of writing.
I think it was the year 1997 when our whole family left the campsite in France early to return to the Netherlands because I was supposed to go to Terschelling with my group of friends. But once we got home, it turned out that almost no one was allowed to go anymore. Only two others were still allowed. We only had small tents, so the three of us in one tent was not an option, and being alone in a tent was not allowed. The conclusion was: I couldn’t go.
The reason no one was allowed to go was because we were being punished. At that time, we were a bit too rebellious, and all our parents had even come together to discuss this. Our first punishment was to be home by 1:00 AM instead of 1:30 AM. That was really terrible for us because we often went to a nightclub, and the last half hour, from 1:00 AM to 1:30 AM, was of course the most fun. And almost no one was allowed to go on vacation anymore.
At that time, emotions were difficult, and I didn’t understand them at all, but I was actually quite angry that I couldn’t go. I felt like the others didn’t make any effort to come up with a suitable solution, as if they didn’t want me to come along. So they went on vacation, and I didn’t. I was really angry about that for a very long time, although I think I never showed it.