sitting in my section that Friday night, $400 might have been the price of a nice dinner.
For me, it was survival.
I was attending college in a neighboring state, close enough to visit home when I had money for the trip but far enough away that every family emergency felt impossible to manage.
I had been working as a waitress at a restaurant near campus for almost a year.
Most evenings were a balancing act between classes, assignments, late shifts, and sending whatever money I could spare back home.
