Dearly Departed

February 2, 2015: Departure

            I woke up in my living room to the sound of my parents telling me I needed to get a move on. Slowly sitting up I realized today was the day! It was time for lift off (almost literally)! I quickly got changed and put myself together so I would look decent on the 14 hours of travel I was about to encounter. I grabbed my 3 bags that contained everything I would be using/wearing for the next three months and got in the backseat of my parents car. We met with three of my friends (Alexa, Mel, and Emily) and their parents for lunch. It was a lunch of affirmation. We wanted to make sure each of us packed everything that was needed and our parents, specifically mine, wanted to give us a set of rules. What they don’t know won’t hurt them right?? Just kidding mom. After lunch my parents and I went to Walgreens to pick up the last thing on my list(I can’t remember what it was). Then, because we were too far away from my house, but too early to go to the airport we drove around and “talked.” My parents talked and I floated off into the distance. We were in the car for about 45 minutes and I remember listening but not actually hearing a thing. My mind was elsewhere and in the car I imagined seeing this episode from above. I saw my parents trying to talk to me and I sat in the backseat in complete silence. From above I was yelling for me to respond, which I did but I have no idea what I said. The last few moments I had with my parents before I left were a complete blur. Still running early but tired of wasting gas we decided to go into the airport. My parents, because we are extremely close, stayed until I was no longer visible. Saying goodbye was surprisingly easy because it didn’t seem like reality. Then again I didn’t see my mom cry. I saw tears begin to form in her eyes but I told her to stop because I knew if she did, I wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye.

The girls and I quickly made it through security (thank goodness), and then waited. After meeting several people that we would be going to school with, the plane was finally loading passengers. It was a MASSIVE plane and I was lucky enough to have an empty seat beside me. After eating dinner, some strange “cottage” potato thing, I just sat in my seat doing NOTHING! I don’t know what I was thinking! Had I been more observant, I would have realized you can watch movies on the planes (FOR FREE). Take advantage of that. After a couple of hours of doing nothing, I read about five pages of the book I was supposed to read for class and wrote in my journal about my thoughts and the turbulence. There was a LOT of turbulence. I was trying to go to sleep, and was somewhat successful when everything began shaking. The seatbelt sign was activated and I felt a big dip and sway of the plane to the right then left. I started praying, knowing that I am never separated from God. I convinced myself that this was normal even though I was thinking it was a big deal because I never fly. I later learned from people who flew regularly…It wasn’t normal and they all thought we were going to die. However, our prayers were answered and we landed safely in London where I no longer knew what day it was.