You & I

Chapter Three

When the plane took off I sat in my seat clenching my hands and feet. I've never ridden a plane before and it was weird how the altitude made your ears pop. The lady next to me gave me some gum to help, she was about 50. She said she was going to see her grand baby for the first time and showed me pictures. Her daughter and husband looked so happy holding their little bundle of joy, I couldn't help but imagining me doing the same thing one day.

The flight was only about 3 hours, so it wasn't that bad. I got off the plane to see even more people than there was in Minneapolis. Even with all of the excitement of moving to London, I still missed home. Remembering Dad, I took out my phone and dialed his number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Daddy!"

"Hi, sweetie, how are you?"

"I'm good, the flight was nice. I sat next to a lady a little older than you saying she was going to see her grandchild for the first time."

"That's always exciting to meet new people, how old was the baby?"

"Just a week old, and the parents were both 22. Can you imagine me having a child at 22?" I laughed at the thought.

"Maybe a bit older... is your mom there?"

"Uh... yeah! I see her walking up right now."

"Okay well then I'll let you go. Call me before you leave for London, okay?"

"Okay. Love you."

"I love you too, Macy," we hung up and I already felt guilty for leaving. I was definitely a Daddy's Girl and even after 3 hours I was already missing him so much. Now I'm going to be all of the way across the Atlantic Ocean.

•••

My mom and I went to brunch because of my 7 hour lay over in JFK.

"I don't know if they have Chipotle in London," she said, "so is that what you want your final American meal to be?" She giggled as she looked at me. My mom was honestly one of my best friends. I can tell her anything and everything and I'm really lucky to do so. She got pregnant with me when she was sixteen, but her and my dad stayed together and made sure I had a good life, now here I am about to get on a plane for London.

"Mom, I'm pretty sure Chipotle is Mexican, not American," I said laughing at her.

"Oh whatever! What do you want to eat?"

"Burgers?"

"Burgers!" she said a little too excitedly.

•••

After lunch I still had 6 hours left in the States and I wanted to spend it right. We walked around the airport people watching and sipping Starbucks until our hearts content. My mom was more of a typical white girl than I.

"What if you acquire the accent? That would be awesome! I'd have a British daughter and all of my friends would be so jealous and like, who doesn't want a British accent?" Most people would think she's drunk but this is just typical her. "Oh, hey! Daddy wants to FaceTime, say hi."

I look into the camera and see my younger siblings, not my dad. They're sitting on the couch, yelling and screaming my name. Mike is fourteen and says he misses me but definitely expects presents to be sent monthly, I roll my eyes at that. Jessica is six and says she wants me to come home but still asks for my room.

"I miss you guys, but sorry Jess, I'm not coming home until Christmas." I say with light tears in my eyes. I never realized how much I'd miss them, despite our age differences. I'm six years older than Mike and twelve years older than Jessica. I spent my entire life around them and now I'm going to be nowhere near them.

I tell myself, "Macy, this is the right thing to do. It's your dream!" But now, I'm having second thoughts.