I owe my parents

As I was growing up, I wasn't exactly the greatest child that my parents could wish for. I too had the known all too well rebellious era brimming with developing teenage angst. I didn't like my family at all. Our ideals were too different. My parents wanted me to get good grades, I refused. My parents wanted me to go to the library, I stayed outside with my friends instead. I never really understood the meaning of family bonding.

But now it's different. I don't see my parents as parents, but more like other people. People I respect, and people who I am responsible for. I never understood how much pain my parents went through to get me to where I am. To pay for my college tuition with a "it's okay if you hate me , as long as you get good grades" facade. And it really hurts now when I thought of how bratty I was. I wish I could hit myself. I wish I could travel a few years into the past and hit myself. I would deserve it. But now I realize what I must do. I have to show my parents that their blood and sweat was not all for vain. That they have not raised a child who cannot show his gratefulness. That's why I'm trying as hard as I can in college, to one day make my parents proud. But I still can't tell them that yet. I will show them when I become successful.