The Boathouse

I know my summer is officially ruined when mom announced we will be going on a family trip to my grandparents' house in England, unfortunately, not the good side of England, the worst side. I've never been there though, this will be the first time, but all I know is that my grandparents live in the countryside, they own a big farm over there and now that my grandmother just died there's no one else to take care of the property so my parents decided to just sell it. So now we have to go over there to clean up grandma's stuff, and take care of the papers for the buyers. I didn't want to go though, I've argued with mom a thousand times but she won't budge.

The thing is, I have the whole summer already planned, my friends and I are going to travel to Los Angeles and experience the Hollywood life. My girlfriend is already so excited of our first real trip together, we've been dating for almost a year now, and now I don't know how to tell her I can't go with her on the trip.

I guess there's nothing left to do now but pack for England. Mom's not changing her mind anytime soon.

After we have arrived at the airport there was a long drive to my grandparents' house. All I could see out the car window are trees, trees, and trees. My thoughts flew over to my friends and girlfriend in LA, having fun, partying the night away, and experiencing the warm breeze of the Hollywood beach, while I'm stuck here in the countryside looking at damp trees all around me. This is the worst summer ever.

An hour later, mom announced we've already arrived at our destination. My grandparents' house is a typical country house, like the one I see in movies, all white and have a very warm ambiance. The property stretched out so far I couldn't even see the fences. My parents could make a huge fortune selling these hectares of land.

There was this guy who was riding a horse who came up to us and introduced himself as the caretaker of the property. My mom knew him and they exchanged warm hugs, it turns out they were childhood friends. He showed us inside.

I settled for the room upstairs overlooking the backyard, though I didn't bother to open the windows I can't look at another tree again, it just upsets me, it reminds me of my friends in LA having a good time and me here being boring.

It's been a week here in the country and all I ever did was play video games the whole day. Not once did I bother to go outside. That's when my mom barged in my room and demanded that I go take a stroll outdoors, she says it's not healthy to stay inside my room all the time, "I needed some sunlight", she says. I know I was being hardheaded but I was pissed at her for forcing me on this trip, so I stood my ground and continued playing my game and ignored her. She eventually gave up and open my windows instead, the wind actually felt nice, it was a bit chilly and smells fresh, not like the same breeze I was used to in New York—polluted. When my mom was gone, I turned off my video game and looked out the window, on the right side of the house was the barn where, I assume, the horses are, and beside it is a chicken coop, but what caught my attention was the beautiful lake, like a mile away from the house, looking at it, it's like it's calling to me, I can't keep my eyes off it's beauty.

So I decided to go to the lake, I went to the barn and got me a horse, I used to take lessons on riding as a kid, I used to hate it but my dad insisted, now I'm thankful I have taken those lessons or else I would be walking to the lake right now.

When I got there, I was dazed, the view was nothing like what I saw in my room, it was so much better. The waters shimmer in the sunlight, the trees danced with the wind, and in the far end of the lake was a meadow. The view was so overwhelming that I haven't realized I was holding my breath and standing there with mouth wide open.