My parents showed up to my college move-in dressed like they were homeless — I was mortified until my dad admitted they’d done it on purpose.
My name is Maya, and the moment my parents got out of their car on move-in day, I thought they’d lost their minds. Dad in ripped jeans and a stained shirt. Mom with messed-up hair, a holey sweatshirt, dirt on her face. My belongings packed in black garbage bags.
My parents are not poor. Dad owns a small chain of businesses; Mom has a good career. They normally care how they look.
Then my roommate Chloe pulled up with her parents in a brand-new SUV. Chloe and I had talked online for two months — and she’d asked a LOT of questions about my family. What did my parents do? Was the car in my Instagram mine? Had I been to Europe?
Chloe looked at my parents’ ripped jeans and garbage bags. “Oh,” she said. Just “Oh.” Her mom gave a tight smile. Her father hesitated before shaking Dad’s hand.
Inside, Chloe barely spoke to my parents, and kept pulling friends aside to whisper. I heard her say, “I didn’t know.”
When Chloe’s mom asked what my mother did, Mom said, “Oh, a little bit of everything” — though she’s had the same job fourteen years.
