When Mom
opens my door
and catches me
doing squats,
I'm so surprised I
fall from my
squat position
onto my butt and
stare at her,
so shocked
I don't even
cough.

Her fury
when she
finds out
that this is
not some
light exercise
to stay in shape,
but a rigorous
astronaut regimen,
lights so fast
and spreads to
Jeff that I
can't even
move.
I am frozen,
making
eye contact
with a version of
my mom
I have
never seen before—
probably because
I've never
kept something
like this
from her
before.

She asks me
if I am
really
stupid enough
to push myself
this far,
if I know
how dangerous
this is.

The beauty of it
is that
I know
it's dangerous
but I do it
anyway
because I believe
I can.

I tell her
my dreams are not
stupid and that
I can
do whatever
I want with
my body.
I tell her
to get out
of my life.

I have never seen
that look
on her face
before.
For a second,
I wait in
shocked
anticipation.
She doesn't
seem to know
whether to feel
betrayed or
bring
her wrath down
upon me.

Jeff
is actually
the one who
speaks first.