Her parents had started worrying about Dana’s obvious dependence on that dog and they would always try to belittle Lighthouse by making often offensive jokes about him or Dana’s relationship with him. It was their way to make their daughter understand that this dependency as they saw it was not that healthy. Dana would get angry at them most of the times and would talk back in a bitter way. That was something that made them even more concerned because that was out of character for her. How can a dog be so important for a person?

Dana, who under different circumstances would think about a possible inappropriate behavior on her part towards her parents and would most certainly call them back and apologize, did not even think of regretting any of her well deserved bitter words now. Her father would say she was just being a little rebellious and her mother would reply that that was what teenagers would do, not adults and Dana was 28 years old. 

Dana was actually present one of the times that this little exchange between her parents took place. She really was angrier about her father’s comment than her mother’s reply and she decided that she had to give them a piece of her mind: “If you consider my behavior as “rebellious” and you use this as an argument to justify me then I need to inform you that rebellion is a defiance of any authority and it is by definition a situation that control is attempted to be broken; that authority would be you by the way; and if you justify it you reduce it into normality, you reduce it into a pattern that can be controlled and managed given enough time. Then, dear father, a rebellion loses its true purpose. It’s still patronizing of the worst kind because you deny me the right to protest. You refuse to acknowledge me as an adult that makes her own choices and has her own beliefs. And, yes mother, I am not a teenager as you’ve correctly put it and thus this is not about the rebellion of a teenager but simply the protest of an adult that needs to be treated as one. Lighthouse is something that you need to accept as one of my choices and if you have a problem with it then you need to DISCUSS it with me instead of making inappropriate jokes that insult me. …. I know that everything you do is out of love ….. I know it but you really need to approach me differently from now on. I want your respect, not your constant reminding of your life’s protocol. There isn’t a manual on how to live your life successfully. Everybody makes their own as their life goes by. Your manual on life will not apply on me because the circumstances are different, because the times are different, because I am an individual, I’m a different person and if you choose to realize that, you will discover the whole me and you will be proud because deep down I am my parent’s daughter. You will see the core principles that you instiled in me and you will see an independent amazing person whose development has been largely your work. But you need to let me be an adult first. If I need your advice on anything be sure that I will ask for it. I respect your experience but the choice will be mine and if I make a mistake that will be mine also. I don’t need to listen to your criticism because I am better at criticizing myself. Most of the times I know what you’ll say about anything before you say it. You are in me. I can hear you in my head on every action I take. But you have to allow me to know better what’s best for me. Please be kind and let me live as a whole person. Please show me some respect. Please take me and what I’ve said seriously because I want you in my life but under different terms.”