I miss you

By Ashanti Scott

Ashanti, I miss you so much.

I miss when you could sit on the porch with an Arnold Palmer and talk to your family for hours without checking your phone or talking politics.

Now you would rather sit in your room and watch Netflix alone and when we talk it’s all socialism, Marx and elections.

I miss when you would procrastinate your schoolwork—but still get the A’s—because you would never miss a party or walk to the park.

Now you shut away and “get ahead” to avoid social interactions.

I miss when you would go fishing, roll around in the grass with the dogs, care for your rabbit, hike, be down for mudding.

Now you are bougie and lift your nose at the thought of nature and if we aren’t talking car lots, the Simpsonville outlets, the Kate Spade store, Tiffany & co. or Louie Vuitton you don’t want to talk.

I miss when you had that Southern slang mixed with a little twang.

Now you use gargantuan idioms and synonyms.

I miss when we’d travel to Fairmont and the hills of Monroe Street or to our old hometown stomping grounds of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Now you prefer only DC, Chicago and New York

I miss when you went to church every week.

Now you shrink and rarely mention how you are blessed. You’d rather be more spiritual and ancestral, less Southern Baptist.

I missed when you dressed in a pop of color and like you were going to see your worst enemy every day.

Now it’s sweatpants, leggings and no makeup.

I miss when you could still be friends with someone who disagreed with you. I miss when you opened up to people. I miss when you built strong, genuine connections.

Now it’s cut off with the quickness. Unfollow, block and delete from your life and walk past like you never knew them.

Ashanti, te extraño mucho.

Ashanti Scott, of Louisville, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2023. She is studying political science and social change at the University of Louisville.