My Mom Pressured Me To Take A Leave From Harvard Because My Sister Struggled To Finish School. I Refused — So They Told Me To Move Out. Years Later, When My Mom Faced A Serious Health Diagnosis, She Asked Me For Help With Treatment. I Only Said:

First in my family to make it to a school anyone outside our zip code has heard of.

And the only reason I ever even thought about Harvard was because a teacher in 11th grade circled a grade on my test and said, “You know, kids from here can go to places like that, too, right?”

My mom Karen loved telling people I was the smart one in the family, but it was more like she was bragging about a scratchoff ticket she’d bought that turned out to be a winner.

My sister Brooke was different.

She was older, louder, the kind of person who could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with three new best friends and a free drink.

For a long time, my mom called her my wild child. with this halfexasperated, half proud tone, like it was a personality trait, not something that could blow up in our faces later.

Brooke tried college once, community college, classes that started later in the morning so she didn’t have to give up her nights.

She dropped out after a year and a half with a few credits, a lot of stories, and this deep burning embarrassment that came out sideways as jokes.

After that, she bounced between jobs.

Server at a sports bar, front desk at a gym, some influencers assistant for about three chaotic weeks.

And somewhere in there, when money was short and tips were bad, she found online gambling.

At first, it blended in with everything else she did on her phone.

A notification here, a flashy app icon there.

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