I was sixteen when I first realized what I wanted to do with my life. It happened after I watched my school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. I’d never been interested in theater before, but something about that night changed everything for me.

I sat there in the audience, completely mesmerized by the actors on stage. The way they brought the characters to life—it was like magic.

I rushed home afterward, my heart pounding with excitement. “Mom!” I called out as I burst through the front door. “I know what I want to do!”

Mom barely looked up from the book she was reading on the couch. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“I want to be an actress,” I said, my voice full of hope.

She laughed. Not a gentle laugh, either—more like a scoff. “An actress? Please. You’ll be lucky to end up sweeping floors on set.”

Her words hit me hard. I stood there, staring at her, my chest tightening. “Why would you say that?”

Mom shrugged, still not really looking at me. “Acting’s not a real job. You’ll never make a living doing that. Stick to something practical.”

I wanted to argue, to tell her how I felt, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I turned and went up to my room, my excitement deflated.

That was just the beginning. Over the next few months, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I belonged on stage. I’d never felt so sure about anything in my life. But every time I brought it up, Mom would roll her eyes or make some sarcastic comment.

One day, after I mentioned auditioning for the school play, she said, “You’ll end up broke and living in some tiny apartment if you keep chasing this nonsense.”

I tried to push her words aside, but it hurt. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t just support me, even a little.

Despite Mom’s attitude, I didn’t give up. I started practicing in my room after school. I’d stand in front of the mirror, reciting lines from Shakespeare or whatever script I could get my hands on. I even joined the drama club at school.

I kept it all a secret from Mom. She had no idea I was taking acting classes at the community center after school. Every time I left the house with my script hidden in my bag, I felt a mix of excitement and fear. What if she found out?

One afternoon, she did. I’d left a flyer for a local play on the kitchen table by mistake. When I got home, she was holding it up, shaking her head.

“Really? You’re still at this?” she said, waving the paper in the air.

I shrugged, trying to keep my cool. “It’s just a school thing. It’s no big deal.”

“It is a big deal,” she snapped. “You’re wasting your time on this acting nonsense when you should be focusing on your grades.”

I didn’t argue. It wasn’t worth it. I knew she wouldn’t change her mind. But deep down, I also knew I couldn’t give up.

When my 18th birthday rolled around, I didn’t expect much. Mom had never been one for big celebrations. Still, I thought maybe, just maybe, she’d show a little support now that I was an adult.

When she handed me a tall wrapped package, I felt a flicker of hope. Maybe she’d gotten me something thoughtful, something to show she believed in me, even just a little.

But when I tore off the paper, my heart sank. Inside was a broom.

Mom smirked. “I figured you should get used to it,” she said, crossing her arms. “Since you’ll probably end up cleaning streets after your acting career flops.”

I stared at the broom, feeling a lump rise in my throat. My chest tightened, but I didn’t let her see me break. Instead, I forced a smile and nodded. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, my voice barely steady.

That night, I went to my room and cried, clutching the broom in my hands. It was supposed to be a special day, but she’d turned it into another jab at my dream.

Even then, I didn’t give up. I couldn’t. Something inside me wouldn’t let her win.

A week after my 18th birthday, everything changed.

I came home from school to find Mom sitting at the kitchen table, staring blankly at the wall. There was no book in her hands, no TV in the background. Just silence.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, already sensing the answer. She didn’t look up.

“They let me go,” she said quietly. “Downsizing. After 20 years.”

I stood there, not knowing what to say. Mom had always been the one with the steady job, the one keeping everything together. But now, her job was gone, and with it, the sense of control she held so tightly. For the first time, she looked fragile.

A few days later, I saw her at the local grocery store. I’d stopped by to grab something on my way home when I spotted her across the aisle. She was hunched over, mopping the floors, her face tired and pale. I froze. There she was, the woman who had always looked down on the idea of me working low-wage jobs, doing exactly that.

For a moment, I didn’t recognize her. The strong, critical woman who always seemed so sure of herself was gone, replaced by someone who looked… defeated.

“Mom?” I said quietly, walking over to her.

She straightened up, her eyes meeting mine. I expected her to snap at me, to make some comment like she usually did. But instead, she just sighed.

“Well, here I am,” she muttered, gesturing at the mop in her hands. “I guess it’s my turn to sweep the floors.”

I didn’t know what to say. The irony of it all—the broom she’d given me, the way she had dismissed me—wasn’t lost on either of us. But this wasn’t the time for pointing it out.

We stood there in silence for a few minutes, the quiet hum of the store filling the gap between us. I could see how tired she was, how much this was weighing on her.

Finally, she spoke. “You know,” she started, her voice softer than I’d ever heard it, “I wanted to be an actress once, too.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Yeah,” she said, staring at the floor. “I was young, around your age. I went to auditions, even got a small part in a community play. But…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Life got in the way. Had to get a real job, pay the bills. The dream… it just slipped away.”

I stood there, stunned. For years, I had thought her criticism came from a place of cruelty, that she was trying to tear me down. But now, it was clear. Her words weren’t meant to hurt—they were born out of her own pain, her own unhealed disappointment.

“I didn’t want you to end up like me,” she said, barely meeting my eyes. “Chasing something that would never happen. It’s… safer not to dream.”

I felt a lump form in my throat. All this time, I’d thought Mom was mocking me, trying to crush my dreams. But in reality, she was trying to protect me from the same heartbreak she had gone through.

“Mom,” I said quietly, “just because your dream didn’t work out doesn’t mean mine won’t.”

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, her expression softening. “I just… I don’t want you to get hurt,” she whispered.

I took a deep breath. “I know. But I have to try. I need to try.”

We stood in silence for a while, neither of us knowing what to say next. Then, I reached into my bag and pulled out a flyer for a local audition I’d seen a few days ago. Without a word, I handed it to her.

She stared at it, confused. “What’s this?”

“An audition,” I said, smiling a little. “Maybe it’s not too late for either of us.”

She looked down at the flyer for a long time, her fingers tracing the edges. For the first time in years, I saw a flicker of hope in her eyes. She didn’t say anything, but I could see the shift in her—like a small door had opened somewhere inside her.

We didn’t talk much more after that, but something had changed between us. There was a new understanding, a kind of truce.

Mom never told me if she went to that audition, and honestly, I didn’t need to know. What mattered was that, in that moment, we had finally seen each other—really seen each other. Her harsh words over the years hadn’t come from hate, but from her own wounds. And I understood that now.