Dreamer

For as long as I can remember I've been a dreamer. I was the little girl laying on the grass, just staring up at the clouds dreaming of what lay outside of the place I called home. I had good parents who always helped me learn and discover. We took yearly vacations to popular tourist locations. I'd been to Disney, Niagara Falls, and the Grand Canyon.

Yet I still yearned for something more. I knew there were wonders out there I'd yet to discover. I wanted to explore.

"Amelia, are you sure about this?" My mom held my hands and looked me in the eye. "Traveling outside of the country can be dangerous."

"I'm surer of this than anything else in my entire life." I sighed. "It has always been my dream to travel and experience life outside of Virginia."

"I know sweetie, but I worry." "You're young, beautiful; I don't want you to get hurt."

I could see the worry in her eyes. My mother cared very deeply for me, after all I was her only daughter.

"Amelia, your brothers both did very well at the university, are you sure you don't want to give it a try?"

Great, the college talk again. I had just graduated high school in June and unlike my former classmates hadn't enrolled in college. I had worked two jobs for the past four years saving up for this adventure I was about to go on.

"Mom, I told you, it's not a no to college, it's just a not right now."

I had wanted to see a tropical rainforest for most of my life. I had countless frogs in my room, whether they be stuffed, carved, or just stickers, they were everywhere. I wanted to see a tree frog up close and in person. I wanted to smell the earthy smell of trees glistening with moisture.

"Sweetie, does it have to be Brazil?" "I'm sure there are plenty of interesting places that don't require you to leave the country."

"Mom, I've seen fifteen different popular tourist attractions." "I've been to twenty-two different states." "I want to see what else there is to see."

"That leaves twenty-eight states you haven't seen!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Mom, why can't you just be happy for me, I've worked so hard to make this a reality."

"I know, Amelia, it's just you're my little girl." She wiped a tear from her face.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I knew she loved me and wanted the best for me but I needed to spread my wings.

"I'm not so little anymore, Mom." "I'll be nineteen in two months."

"I know, and I guess I have to accept that you were going to leave the nest eventually." She sighed. "It's just hard."

I pulled her into a hug. "I know, Mom, but I'll make sure to call you every day."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You ready to finally see some frogs?" Elliot teased.

"Of course!"

"I'm gonna miss you little sis."

"I'm gonna miss you too, Elliot."

He hugged me. "Take as many pictures as possible."

"Why so you can brag to your friends at college?"

He laughed. "Maybe."

I swatted his arm. "You're too much."

I checked the time on my phone. 1:27. I let out a breath. I turned to look at my parents a few feet away talking to my other older brother.

"I guess it's about time for me to get in line to board."

Elliot checked his smart watch. "I guess so." He frowned as we walked back to the rest of our family.

With a final round of hugs and tearful good byes I was ready to go. I was about to spend three weeks in the Brazilian rainforest. A place full of unknowns. I'd tried to learn a little Portuguese in order to be able to communicate with locals but I definitely wasn't fluent.

Never in the past four years had I felt scared. I was always filled to the brim with excitement over the prospect of finally getting to travel outside of the country. Now however, I felt scared. I worried about what would happen should something go wrong.

After all I was still eighteen and travelling alone.

Somehow though, as soon as the plane touched down in San Paulo the fear lifted. I was ready to explore and experience. I wanted to try new foods, I wanted to see the rainforest, and I wanted to see a waterfall.

I would spend the next three weeks eating foods I never knew existed, learning to dance and finally getting to see a poison dart frog in it's natural habitat. However the most memorable experience of that entire trip came about half way through the trip.

So there I stood on day eleven, atop a waterfall, birds calling to each other all around me. I finally felt it, that feeling of being completely free and happy. That moment was one I wish I could live over and over again.

Everything about that moment made all those years of working and saving worth it. The spray covered me from head to toe and the warmth of the air coated my skin. I felt alive.

I was finally living my dream.