allisonfierce
You really expect your parents to be the 'wind beneath your wings' and all that. To help you fly from the nest when you're old enough to do so. Mine haven't really done that for me, ever. I've sort of glued my wings together, while I've been falsely unprepared with candle wax too close to the sun.
I stepped onto the platform and felt the heaviness in the soles of my shoes weighing myself down. I nervously swallowed the boulder-sized lump that had gradually formed in my throat just before I was to go on. I walked up to the podium and squinted before the large crowd. I was shaking internally, but I was ready. "Thank you, it's been such an honor," I said.