I can remember my first day of kindergarten. We were playing games on the floor, and I was partnered with a girl named, Alia. Halfway through she asked,
“What are you?”
I looked at her. “A girl,” I replied in my most snobbish tone. “Duh,”
She shook her head. “I know that,” she said, crossing her arms. “But what are you? Like, I’m American, Angelica’s African,” she said, pointing to a girl from Uganda, “… but what are you?”
I shrugged. “I’m American,” I said.
She looked at me before replying, “You’re Asian!”
“But I was born in America,” I pointed out.
Alia nodded. “Ok, then what are you?” she asked.
I replied with the first thing my first grade mind could think of,
“I’m an ‘in between-y’”
At the time, it was just another phrase to get me out of a situation that my first grade mind could not yet understand, but as I grew and evolved, I realized the depth of its entirely new meaning.
I believe in in-betweens. They make up everything in people’s lives from the color pink, in between red and white, to the flavors of sherbet. In-betweens allow the imagination to wander, and to believe in different things. My friend believes in “shamrock green with a hint of sparkle”, a color she believes is the greatest of all time. It’s in between green, blue, and sparkles with tints of silver. Her color is special, it’s different, and is neither black nor white. It’s just like the rest of the world, consisting of a variety of colors and ideas in between two choices.
Many people tell me that in-betweens are just for people who can’t make decisions; that in betweens are just excuses not to make a choice. However, I believe that without anything in the middle, there can’t be two choices at all. There can’t be a “yes” or “no” without a “maybe”, and sometimes, maybe people shouldn’t have to make a decision. The difference of opinions between two specific choices may break free a barrier, one that allows people to discover a whole new choice they would much rather choose, one created from their creativity and imagination.
I can almost taste the air that one hot summer night. My friends, and I were running around in the park.
“I have slushies!” my friend, Nate, yelled as he walked into the park with a cooler filled with the delicious iced drinks.
I grinned and barreled through my friends, to reach Nate.
“What flavor do you want?” he asked, opening the cooler.
I wanted the cherry, but I also loved green apple. “Can I have both?” I asked.
Nate laughed and shook his head.
I stared at the drinks for a minute before grinning and picking up both slushies.
He watched as I poured the green slushy and watched it mix with the red, making a beautiful brown color.
He grinned in amusement as I started to slurp.
I lived for in-betweens.