Is Home Really Where The Heart Is?, chapter 2
"We're moving?!" I blurted out.
"Yes, now I know this is going to be hard but -" I cut her off.
"Oh no, I'll be fine. But what about Papa? Does he know? Where will he work? Did you tell the school already?" So many questions.
"Relax. And to answer your questions, yes he knows, and he's a truck driver, he can find work anywhere in the country. And yes, I've already told your school. Your last day is Friday."
I can't believe this. We're actually moving.
"Ok," I said, deep in concentration. "So when do we leave?"
"We leave on Monday, at 5 in the morning." Monday. Monday. So that gives me...let's see...all of Friday, Satur-... 3 days to pack!
Now I was to excited to just sit there, so naturally I ran up to my room.
Now where do I start? Hmmm...I'll do clothes first, then valuable stuff, then, well, invaluable stuff. I shrug my shoulders and figure it was as good a plan as any. As I was packing, I found a lot of junk that I threw out that I wouldn't need any more.
Friday came and nobody seemed to notice the teachers asking me about where I was moving. Once the day was over I went home to continue packing. I had split up all of my clothes between boxes and suitcases. My more valuable stuff I packed in suitcases because I didn't really trust them going 3,000 miles across the country in a flimsy cardboard box. By the time Sunday rolled around, our whole house was practically empty. I had two more boxes to pack, but I made sure to leave out a few essentials for tomorrow. It was strange to see my house, and my whole life, packed up in a few boxes on our living room floor.
I was very excited last night to know that I was leaving the village.
When I finally fell asleep, it was about 2 in the morning, so I only got about 2 hours of sleep before I was being shaken awake by my mom. Once I was semi-awake, I got out of bed. I pulled on a pair of loose jeans, threw on my studded belt (with the buckle on my right hip of course), a 'Chicks With Sticks' tee-shirt (I played field hockey for 2 years), and my purple and brown vans. I didn't even bother with my hair because I was probably going to fall asleep on it again.
The movers had already taken mostly all of the boxes so there were only 3 suitcases left to grab. My mom and I set the luggage in the back of the car, then we both made our way to the front. Me being only 14, I had to get in on the passengers side. While driving to the airport, I put my mixed CD into the player and turned up the volume to relax. I know I'm weird that loud music puts me to sleep. At least my mom was into the same type of music as I was, so she didn't mind.
When we got to the airport, we lugged out the suitcases and dragged them to the main building to get it checked in. My mom got herself a cup of coffee and me hot chocolate. Ewww... I hate coffee (no offence to those who like it). But I get hot chocolate! Yay! We fumbled out way over to the security area. I just couldn't help but laugh at the fact that one man's carry-on continuously went off because of a small AAA battery, yet I had about 6 double A batteries and mine didn't even make a sound going through. Although, I did have to take my studded belt off because of the metal and stuff. After going through security, we sat down on the old, uncomfortable chairs and waited for our flight to be called.
"Fight number 267 to Philadelphia is now boarding. I repeat flight number 267 to Philadelphia is now boarding." Uhh...just as I was getting comfortable! Grrr...
We got settled in our seats and I put my belt thingy on. The flight attendant went through the whole 'in case this happens...' scenario. I sat by the window looking out at the winter scene before for one last time. Actually I wouldn't mind all that much if this is the last time I see Pennsylvania. No one will even know I'm gone. At least I'm not breaking anyone's heart by leaving. At least I don't think I am.
By now the plane had taken off and was gaining altitude rapidly. I never had a real problem with planes. I've been going on planes since I was two years old, and it never bothered me then either. The worst part of this flight so far are the baby in the front of the plane who's crying it's head off, and the kid behind me who insists on pushing my seat as far forward as possible with his feet. I put on my head phones to drown out the sound of the crying baby, and I reclined my seat so far back, that the kid behind me could barely move.
After a few minutes of being poked by the kid, I pulled my seat up and told him to not bother me anymore. Thankfully, he agreed. I finally fell asleep listening to, well I'm not exactly sure what I was listening to, but it did put me to sleep. Unfortunately, in 30 minutes I was awaken again by the bouncing of the plane landing. We gathered all of our stuff (oh ya all of one carry-on and a purse), and got off the plane. My mom and her great sense of direction got us to the wrong gate for our connecting flight. At least I inherited some of my papa's skills and was able to find the right place.
So yet again, my mom and I are sitting here waiting for our section to be called to board. Once we we're called, we picked up our things, and set off to California. I put on my music once again and fell asleep. About 4 hours later I woke up. I looked out the window and noticed that the tiny scenery below us was slowly getting larger. We must be getting close to the airport. I grabbed my bag and put my CD player in it. I noticed the little light that tells you to buckle-up was on. After strapping myself in, I looked through a magazine that was in front of me. That got boring so I moved onto the First Aid card. Nott as interesting as you'd think. So now that I had nothing to do, I resorted to making my hair do the wave by blowing on it. My hair's really short so it was easy to do. And very amusing might I add!
"Hey Mom, what time is it?"
"It's about, umm, 6 in the morning." I gave her a confused look. I'm gonna need to think about that for a minute. Let's see, left at five, flew for like 4 hours making it nine. How did she get-oops time change, duh. So ya, 6:00. Ok I'm good now.
The pilot dude came on and welcomed us to Berkeley. I didn't really pay attention though, I was too busy looking at the landscaping near the airport. We finally landed and pulled into the spot or whatever it is that the plane stops in is. Everyone got up instantly and began collecting their bags from the overhead compartments. I, on the other hand, just sat there for two reasons. 1. I couldn't even get up to begin with because there were so many people standing already, and 2. Being that it finally hit me. I'm in California now. There's no turning back now. My old dreary life was back in Pennsylvania. Now I lived in California, and I was ready to start fresh again. New house, new school, new town. That means one thing: I'm going to start a new life, with a new me. I think...|
"Yes, now I know this is going to be hard but -" I cut her off.
"Oh no, I'll be fine. But what about Papa? Does he know? Where will he work? Did you tell the school already?" So many questions.
"Relax. And to answer your questions, yes he knows, and he's a truck driver, he can find work anywhere in the country. And yes, I've already told your school. Your last day is Friday."
I can't believe this. We're actually moving.
"Ok," I said, deep in concentration. "So when do we leave?"
"We leave on Monday, at 5 in the morning." Monday. Monday. So that gives me...let's see...all of Friday, Satur-... 3 days to pack!
Now I was to excited to just sit there, so naturally I ran up to my room.
Now where do I start? Hmmm...I'll do clothes first, then valuable stuff, then, well, invaluable stuff. I shrug my shoulders and figure it was as good a plan as any. As I was packing, I found a lot of junk that I threw out that I wouldn't need any more.
Friday came and nobody seemed to notice the teachers asking me about where I was moving. Once the day was over I went home to continue packing. I had split up all of my clothes between boxes and suitcases. My more valuable stuff I packed in suitcases because I didn't really trust them going 3,000 miles across the country in a flimsy cardboard box. By the time Sunday rolled around, our whole house was practically empty. I had two more boxes to pack, but I made sure to leave out a few essentials for tomorrow. It was strange to see my house, and my whole life, packed up in a few boxes on our living room floor.
I was very excited last night to know that I was leaving the village.
When I finally fell asleep, it was about 2 in the morning, so I only got about 2 hours of sleep before I was being shaken awake by my mom. Once I was semi-awake, I got out of bed. I pulled on a pair of loose jeans, threw on my studded belt (with the buckle on my right hip of course), a 'Chicks With Sticks' tee-shirt (I played field hockey for 2 years), and my purple and brown vans. I didn't even bother with my hair because I was probably going to fall asleep on it again.
The movers had already taken mostly all of the boxes so there were only 3 suitcases left to grab. My mom and I set the luggage in the back of the car, then we both made our way to the front. Me being only 14, I had to get in on the passengers side. While driving to the airport, I put my mixed CD into the player and turned up the volume to relax. I know I'm weird that loud music puts me to sleep. At least my mom was into the same type of music as I was, so she didn't mind.
When we got to the airport, we lugged out the suitcases and dragged them to the main building to get it checked in. My mom got herself a cup of coffee and me hot chocolate. Ewww... I hate coffee (no offence to those who like it). But I get hot chocolate! Yay! We fumbled out way over to the security area. I just couldn't help but laugh at the fact that one man's carry-on continuously went off because of a small AAA battery, yet I had about 6 double A batteries and mine didn't even make a sound going through. Although, I did have to take my studded belt off because of the metal and stuff. After going through security, we sat down on the old, uncomfortable chairs and waited for our flight to be called.
"Fight number 267 to Philadelphia is now boarding. I repeat flight number 267 to Philadelphia is now boarding." Uhh...just as I was getting comfortable! Grrr...
We got settled in our seats and I put my belt thingy on. The flight attendant went through the whole 'in case this happens...' scenario. I sat by the window looking out at the winter scene before for one last time. Actually I wouldn't mind all that much if this is the last time I see Pennsylvania. No one will even know I'm gone. At least I'm not breaking anyone's heart by leaving. At least I don't think I am.
By now the plane had taken off and was gaining altitude rapidly. I never had a real problem with planes. I've been going on planes since I was two years old, and it never bothered me then either. The worst part of this flight so far are the baby in the front of the plane who's crying it's head off, and the kid behind me who insists on pushing my seat as far forward as possible with his feet. I put on my head phones to drown out the sound of the crying baby, and I reclined my seat so far back, that the kid behind me could barely move.
After a few minutes of being poked by the kid, I pulled my seat up and told him to not bother me anymore. Thankfully, he agreed. I finally fell asleep listening to, well I'm not exactly sure what I was listening to, but it did put me to sleep. Unfortunately, in 30 minutes I was awaken again by the bouncing of the plane landing. We gathered all of our stuff (oh ya all of one carry-on and a purse), and got off the plane. My mom and her great sense of direction got us to the wrong gate for our connecting flight. At least I inherited some of my papa's skills and was able to find the right place.
So yet again, my mom and I are sitting here waiting for our section to be called to board. Once we we're called, we picked up our things, and set off to California. I put on my music once again and fell asleep. About 4 hours later I woke up. I looked out the window and noticed that the tiny scenery below us was slowly getting larger. We must be getting close to the airport. I grabbed my bag and put my CD player in it. I noticed the little light that tells you to buckle-up was on. After strapping myself in, I looked through a magazine that was in front of me. That got boring so I moved onto the First Aid card. Nott as interesting as you'd think. So now that I had nothing to do, I resorted to making my hair do the wave by blowing on it. My hair's really short so it was easy to do. And very amusing might I add!
"Hey Mom, what time is it?"
"It's about, umm, 6 in the morning." I gave her a confused look. I'm gonna need to think about that for a minute. Let's see, left at five, flew for like 4 hours making it nine. How did she get-oops time change, duh. So ya, 6:00. Ok I'm good now.
The pilot dude came on and welcomed us to Berkeley. I didn't really pay attention though, I was too busy looking at the landscaping near the airport. We finally landed and pulled into the spot or whatever it is that the plane stops in is. Everyone got up instantly and began collecting their bags from the overhead compartments. I, on the other hand, just sat there for two reasons. 1. I couldn't even get up to begin with because there were so many people standing already, and 2. Being that it finally hit me. I'm in California now. There's no turning back now. My old dreary life was back in Pennsylvania. Now I lived in California, and I was ready to start fresh again. New house, new school, new town. That means one thing: I'm going to start a new life, with a new me. I think...|
