Title Lesson 5 - ed endings - Stories(1).pdf ✅

“I felt like I had to prove something to my parents. I’d gone to art school without their approval, and I wanted to show them that I’d made the right choice. So I overworked myself in every possible way. I tried to qualify for scholarships every year. I did little side jobs, and volunteer work, and lots of extracurricular activities. I actually enjoyed being so busy, even though it was exhausting. It made me feel alive. Like I was growing. And building myself. And moving forward. I felt like I wasn’t a loser in the race. I was keeping toward the front. But the whole time my body was deteriorating. It started with being tired all the time. Then I began to lose weight. Then little illnesses: a cold, the flu, digestive
problems. I was carrying pills with me all the time. Then last year I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It was curable, and the surgery went well, but for the first time I was forced to think about dying. I always thought I wasn’t afraid of death. But before my surgery, I was scared. I realized that I didn’t want to die. I’m too young to die. So I right now I’m taking a break from life. I just want to get healthy. I’ve moved back in with my parents, and my plan this year is to have no plan. No obligations. No self-improvement. Nothing. It hasn’t been completely peaceful. There are moments when I feel anxious. Like I’m standing still. And the world is going on without me. And everyone else is doing something: studying, earning money, building a career. But I’m not. I’m just here.”
“Nobody would give us a chance. We were in our early twenties. We had two young kids. We were working, but living check to check. At the time we were staying in the projects with my mother-in-law, but my kids were growing up, so we needed our own place. But all the rental brokers wanted to see our bank statements. And we had no savings. We didn’t even have accounts. Then one day I was walking down the avenue, and I saw a super fixing up an empty apartment. I told him I needed to speak to the landlord directly. No brokers. And I guess he liked my vibe, because he gave me the name: Ronald Petrowski. When I called Mr. Petrowski, I explained everything. I told him we needed a chance. He agreed to meet me and my husband at Lenny’s Pizzeria. He bought us a plain pie and listened to our story.