Stitches

1 - Home bound

     I look out the window, admiring the city lights shinning in the night sky as the plane descends into Minneapolis, MN. This was my first flight of two before I'd land in my hometown of Rhinelander, WI. It will be my first time being home in eight months and a lot has changed. I had flown the same route on my way home back in May and remember the anticipation I had as I waited in the Minneapolis airport for my next flight. My ship had just gotten back from deployment and I was on leave for a little over two weeks. I had been talking to a girl named Shaylee for a few months over Facebook messenger whenever I was able to get to a computer on the ship. Those messages were what pushed me through the last few months of the deployment that just seemed to drag on. I was in a down mood after being stuck on a ship with the same people in a confined space for the last five months besides the few ports we pulled into where we were able to go out and explore for a few hours, or if we were lucky, a few days. On top of that my older brother Dom had just gotten married and I had to miss it due to the damn deployment. He was the reason I joined the Navy, I've looked up to him my whole life. He was a hard worker, had been through some shit times, but was always able to overcome them. He had been married briefly before, but it ended shortly after it started. The Bitch was trying to use him for his military benefits, luckily he saw through her lies and got an annulment. Even through that, he picked himself back up, found Lesley, the love of his life, and now they were happily married. Their life together put a glimmer of hope in me. That is what I had wanted at the time; to find the one I was meant to be with, especially after a long, lonely deployment. Relationships in the past for me had been anything but perfect. When I joined the navy I was dating a girl named Amanda that I went to high school with, she was my first love and I was ready for the commitment of a long distance relationship. I thought she was too, but during boot camp I got a letter from her saying the distance was too hard and she was moving on. The next relationship I had was short lived and only lasted two and a half months; her name was Emily and I met her while I was in A-school up in Great Lakes but it fizzled out right before I left for San Diego where I had been stationed. She said the distance would be too hard, I couldn't blame her since our relationship was so new. Then there was Shaylee, I remember thinking she could possibly be the one it could finally work out with, which is the majority of the reason why I was so excited to get back home. I had waited three months to meet her and I just wanted to get back in town and be able to see her, touch her, be with her.

     I snap out of my deep thoughts as the seat-belt light chimed off, signaling that we were at the gate and could now exit the plane. I walked down the concourse to my next gate, which happened to be on the complete other side of the airport, and began to pick up the sweet smell of coffee. The smell grew stronger as I continued down the walk way until I saw a Caribou Coffee shop on the left. Caribou was my mom and aunts favorite. They always had their Caribou K-cups fully stocked, I didn't quite understand their obsession with it. Sure, it was good, but so was Starbucks or Dunkin. But no matter what I told them, it wouldn't change their opinion on the coffee. It didn't matter what time Of day it was, if the family had gotten together, they had their coffee in hand. 

     The last time I had been home, The first day I was there I got in around three in the afternoon and went straight over to my aunt Macy's house where we were having dinner with the entire family. It didn't matter that it was practically dinner time, when I got there Macy already had the cups of coffee ready for her and my mom. After dinner we played games then enjoyed each other's conversations. I remember getting antsy sitting in the living room listening to them talk about the upcoming summer and glancing at my phone, waiting for the time to strike seven. When it finally did, I excused myself and told them I had plans to meet up with my buddies from high school. That was a lie, sure I'd eventually see them, but I was really going to meet up with Shaylee and I didn't want my mom asking me questions. She was always strict with us boys growing up, I don't blame her for that, having three teenage boys to raise had to of been hard. But I was an adult now, had been out of the house for nearly two years, and the last thing I wanted to hear about was another one of her lectures on girls or no sex before marriage. I hugged them one by one and told them how good it was to be home and see them again. When I got to my brother he was mumbling something under his breath that I had been able to hear