Anything and Everything

Chapter 1: Leaving

Finally, it was time; I huffed my breath as I pushed my last blanket into my overstuffed box. I pushed the flaps together, trying to hold both in one hand and the tape in the other. I tried to tape them while lying on the flaps, yet that failed horribly.

"Here, let me help Flor," my mom said, standing in my doorway before making her way toward me. She sat gently on the bed, placing both hands on the flaps while I pulled the tape and plastered the box with it so it wouldn't explode while it was being shipped halfway across the country.

She sat there looking out the window, clasping her hands together, and a smile began to show across her face.

"I'm so proud of you; you have worked hard for this. UC would be so proud to have such a beautiful, intelligent, hardworking young woman on their campus."

"Mom, stop. It's just college; I worked as hard as everyone else to get there. Once there, I will be like everyone else studying, working, and everything else college students do."

Secretly, it wasn't like that, I wanted to experience life; I wanted to prove to everyone that I was independent and able to do everything on my own. Lastly, I wanted to find the real me.

"I know, it's just that..." 

"Ladies, ladies, we don't have all day. Flor has a plane to catch, and we don't want to be late, do we?" My dad said, yelling from downstairs as he took the boxes to his truck, loading them in one by one.

"Here we come, Micheal Theadore," my mom screamed from the top of her lungs before we fell into a pit of giggles. See, my dad hates his middle name because he thinks it makes him seem older than he is.

Once, at family dinner, he swore up and down that forty-five was the next twenty-five and that he was so handsome they could put him on Vogue. He even asked the waiter to guess his age, and she told him he looked good for fifty, which made him choke on his lasagna noodles, making Mom and I laugh our heads off. Mom picked up the last box and held it in both hands before walking out the door and heading downstairs to join Dad at the truck.

I stood in the middle of the room looking at the bare walls that were once covered with music posters, the shelf that once held all my flowers and plants was now empty, and the desk that I would sit at and study for hours was now to be left alone, but a place my mom would come back and sit in to reminisce the times she would sit and laugh, or comfort her daughter who would cry uncontrollably over silly little boys and their situations they brought along with them. Yet, I was glad to see the door close as I stood in the hallway. It was the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new life for me.

I walked down the stairs, slipped into my Nikes, and threw on my light green hoodie before heading to the truck. I sat in the back seat, put my headphones on, and began to listen to my playlist, consisting of over fifty songs that had no relationship to each other but were all good in their own sense. As I looked out the window, I knew I would never miss Dallas. Little did I know leaving would change my life forever and change me into someone. 

"Here we are," my dad said as he parked the car in the car park.

"Are you ready?" my mom said, looking at me in the back seat before exiting in a hurry so she could help me carry my suitcase and carry-on bag. I knew she was only doing this so she could walk beside me and feel as if she wasn't letting me go, but instead just sending me off for an extended stay at college.

"Yes, I'm ready. I'm going to be fine, I swear, I'm twenty; it's time for me to go out and enjoy life and find out what college is really about."

"Okay, okay, Micheal hunny. I can take flor, you just stay here. We have a little girl talk we need to take care of first," she said before beginning to walk to the doors of the airport.

"Listen, I don't want you to focus all on your studies. College is a time to find yourself and the things you enjoy and create lifelong friends. Just look at me and Carmen; if it weren't for her running into my dorm naked and drunk, we probably wouldn't be friends at all." she said, handing me my carry-on bag.

"Mom, I know."

"Also, about boys, safe sex is the best sex. I know you are on birth control, but put on a glove or no love," she said wide-eyed.

"MOM! Stop, please stop," I said as I saw bystanders laughing and hiding their smirks.

"I know what to do; I need to go before I miss my flight," I said before embracing her and kissing her cheek. "I love you, mom."

"I love you, my baby Flor," she said before letting me go and pushing me away so I wouldn't see her tears as she watched me walk away.

I began to go through all the places and procedures in the airport before reaching my gate.

"May I see your boarding pass, ma'am?"

"Oh, yes, it's right here," I said, handing the middle-aged woman my pass. She then ushered me into the gate. As I boarded my flight, I quickly found my seat by the window and sat there waiting for the plane to take off. This was my first time flying, and I was kind of nervous, but I was ready for California.