The Pink Slip of Paper

“Well, I don’t see why you can’t still go,” her mother said quietly.

“And how am I going to do that?” she snapped back.

“You better watch your mouth!”

“But, Ma, I’m just…”

“I don’t care how mad you are. You don’t talk to me like that!”

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

This conversation was not going well at all. She had come to her mother’s house for some much needed advice, but instead she was ranting and screaming at her mother. She was acting like a crazy woman!

“When you calm down I’ll be in the backyard with the kids,” her mother said as she walked out of the dining room.

“Okay, Ma.”

As her mother left the room, she put her head down on the large dining room table. She felt really bad for yelling at her mother. She loved her mother and they had a great relationship. She was her mother’s only child and she couldn’t believe she had treated her mother that way. She was torn and distressed. Tears began to puddle on the table as she thought about the dilemma she now faced. That pink slip of paper was making her crazy!


It had been a typical Saturday morning. The kids had spent the night with her mom, like they do every Friday night, and she was able to sleep in. As she watched the sunlight dance on the bedroom ceiling, she thought about how excited she had been yesterday when she received that long awaited letter in the mail. She had been accepted into Texas Tech! This was a major accomplishment for her. She had been waiting for this opportunity a long time. The birth of her son two years ago put a dent in her plans to attend college, but this was her chance to start a new chapter in her life. This was the chance to make a better life for her family.

Time had come for her to go pick the kids up from her mother’s house that Saturday afternoon. She had slept later than she intended. She rushed out of bed, got dressed, and headed for the door. As she headed out the door, she noticed the mail stacked neatly on top of the television. Her husband had placed it there before he left for work a few hours before. She flipped through the mail. There were a few bills, some junk mail, and a letter from the clinic. She assumed the letter contained routine lab results. She opened it to read the nurse’s comments. Walk more. Cut your sodium intake. Blah, blah, blah she thought to herself. She noticed the paper inside the envelope was pink this time and not white as it usually was. Oh, I’m not going back in there so they can stick me again. That’s what she thought the pink slip of paper meant. She had noticed people in the lab a couple of times with pink slips of paper and they were getting more blood taken. She proceeded to open the paper and what she read made her dizzy. “You have got to be kidding me,” she said out loud. She had to sit down. She felt light headed. She thought she might faint.

“No one could have this much bad luck,” she said after about 20 minutes of staring at the pink slip of paper. This could not be happening again. Talk about de′ja vu! Her thoughts quickly jumped back to two years earlier when she had gotten the first acceptance letter. That time it was two weeks later when she found out she was pregnant with her son. All she could do was think about how her plans to go back to college would be put on hold again. It would be too much for her to work, go to school, and take care of a baby. She wasn’t really mad about having another baby because she wanted one more child, but not right now. She wanted to finish school and start her career before adding another member to the family. Her thoughts became cloudy. This was too much to handle alone. She needed to talk to someone. She needed her mom!



I better go apologize to her, she thought as she shoved that pink slip of paper in her purse. She pushed herself away from the dining room table and began to walk toward the back door. What do I say to her? She’s probably really mad at me right now. Maybe I should just get the kids and go. No, that would really piss her off if I did that. She had to say something to her mother. She couldn’t leave things this way.

“Ma,” she said as she sat on the swing next to her.

“Yes,” her mom replied.

“I’m really sorry about yelling at you. It’s just that I feel like my life is going no where and I can’t seem to get ahead.”

“I know things are not easy for you right now,” her mother replied. “You have to have faith that God will see you through these hard times. Things will get better for you. Just wait and see."

“But I don’t want to wait forever, Ma.”

“Be patient my child.”

“So what do you think I should do about school?” she asked her mother.

“That is something only you can decide. You are a strong woman. I know you will make the right decision.”

By: LaCecia Whitehead