Confusing Dilemmas

Life will never be completed until you experience everything you wish for. My mother said these words to me, while on her deathbed, three hours before she died. This view on life has kept with me since the day she said it eight years ago. Not only because she told this to me so soon to her time of passing, but also because it is such a wonder way of thinking.

My Mother, Sierra Blaire Trixton van der Mintly, was borne March 3^rd, 1970. She gave birth to me March 3^rd, 1990. She died March 3^rd 1997. Before she died, she always made jokes about how March 3^rd was her lucky day of the year. When she died, the humor in it was lost. It seemed more like an ugly coincidence than a silly joke. But I'm not writing this letter to tell you about the horrid truth of my mother's death. I am writing to you to tell you about how wonderful she was, and what a life she led. And why it is that I respected her more than anyone in my life, including my father, Christopher (Topher) Louis van der Mintly, Minister of Magic of America.

On March 3^rd, 1970 Tiffany Trixton and husband Michael Trixton gave birth to a daughter, Sierra Blaire Trixton, my mother. They brought her up in Salem, Massachusetts. I do not know much about my mother's actual life growing up in Salem. This is because she told me so many stories about it that I can't exactly tell the difference between the true and the fictional. There are a few I could always tell the difference between, even as she told me them. Like when she told me she always had a good connection with her teacher from school, Professor Livingston, I knew this was true because Professor Livingston came over for dinner every Sunday night. And I knew that when she told me her best friend was a mermaid princess from the bottom of the Atlantic; I knew she was making this up. She hated swimming. But non-the-less I loved the stories, true or not. I guess it may be that I have an amazingly expanding imagination. But it was probably that I loved my mother so much that it didn't matter what she was saying, as long as she was with me.

Either way I can remember in full detail every story my mother ever told me. After she died, I could never fully understand why she would makeup so many stories to tell me. I mean, she could have just told the truth, right?

As I got older, I started to realize what she meant by it. It collided with her last words to me. She meant to show me in seven years time, that she had accomplished everything in her life that she wanted to. She had fulfilled her life to the point that the only things left for her to wish for, were the impossible.

I really want to be like my mother when I grow up. She was smart, beautiful, and got everything she wanted out of life. I am smart, and I am told that I could be an exact replica of her. So that leaves getting everything I want out of life. And what I really want out of life is the experience of visiting Europe and seeing new places. And trying new schools. Which is why I am applying for the exchange student program to Hogwarts_. I do sincerely hope you accept my application.

Gratefully yours,

Audrey Vivica Serena Rose Sierra Blaire Trixton van der Mintly

Audrey Vivica Serena Rose Sierra Blaire Trixton van der Mintly

Exchange Student Applicant

I copied these words on two other sheets of parchment, only replacing 'Hogwarts' with 'Beauxbatons' on one, and 'Durmstrang' on the other.

"Done yet sweetie?"

"Yep, Jasmine. Just finished."

"Good, dinner's on the table. Come on down."

I rolled the last three parchments up and tied them with red ribbon. Then I got up from my desk and headed for my owl Trixton.
"Just let me send these off. That way the people assigned to read them will get them in the morning and not get them in the middle of the day. They'll be in a better mood."
"Of course," she said, smiling at me. Jasmine is my stepmother. When my father first notified me of his decision to remarry, I thought I would never be able to forgive him, but once I met Jasmine, I realized he had chosen a very good woman to step in for my mother. Most of my friends told me to expect the worst from her, but I believe they were caught up in the story of Cinderella, as we had just been learning of the great deeds of her fairy godmother in History of Magic. Jasmine was an amazing woman and decided to ac like more like an older sister than a stepmother. This made it much easier to open up to her.

"Ok, all set," I said as I sent Trixton off into the night, three rolls of parchment bobbing up and down at his leg.
We made our way down the stairs of our Salem home and into the colonial set dining room. My father was sitting at the table staring mutinously at a letter in front of him. I strided over to his seat.
"Hi, Daddy," I said quietly kissing him on the cheek, startling him slightly. "What's up?" I asked, referring to the letter.

"Hey, Kitten. Hm? Oh, that. Nothing." He took one last glance at the letter and then shoved it aside and changed the subject. "Got our transportation to Europe all set up."

"Oh, Daddy! I haven't even gotten into a school yet. Hell, I've just sent off my applications a second ago!"

Jasmine startled slightly, "Audrey, language..." she remarked quietly.

"Yes, Audrey, you must watch your language from now on. Hogwarts isn't going to be as lenient about cursing as the Academy," my father scolded sternly.

"Daddy, I might not even get into Hogwarts. I might be going to Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang."

"Of course you'll get in! You'll get in to all three schools, but we all know which you're going to choose. Am I right?" He seemed almost insulted at the thought of me choosing either of the other two schools over the school he attended.

"Of course! I'd choose Hogwarts over the other two without a doubt! But back to the point." I wanted to change the subject. He always assumes these things. What if I didn't want to go to Hogwarts? "There's no evidence that I'm getting in. You shouldn't have gotten transportation yet."

"Nonsense. Besides, there are other reasons for the transportation. The Minister of Magic over there is hosting another ball, and I have decided that you are finally old enough to attend with Jasmine and I."

"Oh, Daddy!!" I was so ecstatic that I lost all control and threw arms around him. "What kind of ball is it?"

"Guess." This came from a beaming Jasmine standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Hmm...." I put on an expression of deep thought. "Hint."

"It's your favorite type of ball. You've always wanted to attend one."

"EIIIK!" I squealed in delight, "A masquerade ball and I'm attending! Oh I'm so---OH MY GODS! What in the worlds am I going to wear?" I jumped up from my fathers chair arm and ran upstairs into my room. I could hear my father and Jasmine laughing behind me.

I tore through my closet, throwing clothes behind me. Nothing I had would do. Every dress I owned was simply unacceptable for a masquerade ball in Europe. My whole room was covered in every single article of clothing I owned when I noticed my father standing in the doorway with a smile on his face and a silver encrusted chest in his arms.

I stopped my frantic search and starred at him. "What?" He simply walked into the room and placed the chest on my bed. "What is it?" I asked curiously.

He answered by opening the chest and swiftly lifting the most beautiful gown out and laying it out on the bed. It was silver with red ribbons running through it and diamonds all along the hems. "This," he said placing gloves and shoes that matched next to it, "was your mother's. She wore it to the most memorable ball of my life. It was the night I proposed to her on. And she wanted you to have it." He finished with a flourish as he set a diamond and ruby tiara on the gown and a mask that matched the tiara next to it. "So. What do you think?"

"Gurflepledee," I mumbled. It was an odd way of saying 'wow' that I had come up with at age five, and it was all I could manage. I was speechless, and when I did try to talk all that came out was a slight gurgling noise.

"I take it that that was a way of saying 'I love it'?" he laughed. I beamed up at him. He gave me a kiss on my forehead and left with the chest.

I pulled my pajamas off and laced up the corset I found on the floor. It was the one my mother gave me when I was little, the one I'd thought I'd never use. It was difficult to do on my own, but I managed. I then pulled up the matching bloomers and pulled the gown over my head. I laced all the red ribbons up and looked in my floor length mirror. I looked the prettiest I had ever seen myself. I twisted my hair up into a bun and stuck a quill from my desk through it. I went and lay down on my bed, imagining how amazing the ball was going to be. Sometime from there my thoughts turned into dreams and I fell into a deep sleep, still wearing my mothers gown.