Life of a College Grad - Part 1

Hi, so this is a difficult one for me to post. This is the first time I've taken a commission that didn't go to plan. I guess it's bound to happen at some point. I'm doing what I can with them, but I'm still proud of the original story, so I wanted to post it. If the story sounds familiar, just know that is what the requestor asked for. I hope you all enjoy it.

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Molly was a college graduate, a fact she was proud of. Dawning her cap and gown crossing the stage, she accepted her diploma, the rest of her life in front of her eyes. The part of graduating that Molly didn’t like though was she currently had no plan. Well she did have a plan, but it wasn’t a good one. Despite her school's bustling careers department, neither they nor Molly had been able to secure her a job after graduation with her communications degree. With no job prospects, Molly was forced to come back home to her mom, her mom who was waving from the crowd in excitement for her eldest daughter.

After the ceremony, Molly hopped in her mom's car which was packed with all her stuff from school already. “Honey you looked so nice up there, I’m so proud of you.” Her mom, Janice, beamed and she drove the sedan.

“Little good this diploma is, considering I don’t have a job.” Molly huffed as she toyed with the padded leather diploma holder.

“It will be ok honey, I’m sure you’ll be able to land a job in no time, you just need to do a little more looking. I’m just happy to have a little more time with you at home.” She gleefully pinched her daughter's cheek with her hand free from the wheel.

“So much for a robust career services department.” Molly huffed once more. “That was one of the reasons I picked this dumb school. Always touting their amazing job placement numbers. *Bah!*” She scoffed.

“I’m sure they did their best.” Janice stayed optimistic, despite knowing her daughter's penchant for taking the easy street and not really putting in all the effort she really should have. “Such a busy day, you must be ravenous. Here, let's stop and grab some grub.” Janice pulled the car off the highway into what looked like a decently populated gas station pit stop.

She navigated over to the McDonald’s drive thru and Molly grabbed a combo meal to fill her stomach. It wasn’t the world's best food, but she was young and thin and could handle the gastric load.

Molly played on her phone most of the rest of the way home. She looked forward to summer break. Molly was in a time of transition in her life, and would soon learn there would be no more such a thing as summer break, well unless she went into teaching, which she was not suited for at all. At 22 years of age, all Molly knew was that the summer was for putting your feet up and relaxing after working hard all year.

The two of them unpacked the car when they got home, and Molly spent the next 24 hours unpacking in her old room, compounding the feeling of inadequacy having to stay in her old bedroom. Yes she had stayed there during holidays and the past few summers, but now this was to be her permanent placement until she could finally strike it out on her own. She would need a job first before she could do that.

One benefit to being home though were the meals. The low effort cafeteria meals had kept Molly almost starved throughout her four years at school. She didn’t know how anyone could gain the freshman 15 there, even though she saw many who did. Maybe it was all the desserts, Molly had never been big on deserts, she was more interested in a hearty meal. Every night her mom served a big dinner, and she even offered to make Molly breakfast if she wanted it. Who didn’t want pancakes and bacon the morning after they graduated college?

Janice was just excited to have someone to cook for again. Molly had been gone for four years, and her youngest daughter, Roxy, had been at college for three. With Roxy staying at school for a summer internship, Janice was happy to at least have Molly under her roof, if only for a short while. She was going to take advantage of that short while as much as she could. Janice cracked her fingers and broke out the cook books, trying a new recipe as often as she could, but also leaning on some classics she knew her daughter would like. Molly always looked thrilled coming down after a long day of job searching (or TikTok scrolling) to a nice piping hot dinner on the table. Her first week home she felt like she had never eaten so good. Janice just liked that they got to sit at the table and share some time together.

Tonight’s course consisted of spaghetti and meatballs with some very delicious garlic bread on the side. Janice had made an entire loaf of garlic bread, and Molly drooled and she could see it glistening with butter. “Come on and have a seat honey, dinner is ready.” Molly didn’t need to be told twice, and hopped into her normal chair at the table, starting to fill her plate immediately. As Molly heaped spaghetti on her plate, her mom sparked up a conversation. "So honey, how's the job search going?" The answer was, not well, but Molly wanted to make sure she answered carefully.

She twirled and chomped on her first large bite of spaghetti before answering. "It's going ok, just you know all the jobs that are open don't really go with my degree, and the ones that do want 1-3 years experience, so it's tough ya know?" She had smashed her garlic bread into her sauce and proceeded to gnaw off the corner. "I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to just take the summer off and not stress it until the fall." This was the part Molly was worried about. The whole living at home arrangement probably wasn't ideal for either of them, Molly was sure her mom would rather be traveling or living it up on wine tours, rather than making sure her college graduate daughter had dinner on the table. She knew her mom was happy to have her around more, but to lounge around all summer might have been too much.

And it wasn't like Molly wanted to postpone striking out on her own either, but just after one week of lazily looking for work she was already over it. A normal lazy summer vacation seemed earned after everything she'd done. Now she just needed to convince her mother.

"That sounds delightful! Even more time with my Molly before I become an empty nester all alone."

"Gees mom, don't sound so depressing. You know Roxy and I would never move that far from you, we will always be around.”

“I think this calls for some cake!” Janice exclaimed before fetching one from the fridge.