Heart and Seoul

The Departure

3:35 AM I was the first one up, already showered and dressed and ready to go. Ironically I was the one that had to wake my parents up.

                It took mom and dad about half an hour to get ready but they managed to help put my bags into the trunk of the SUV. Before getting in the car Ginger, our Labrador retriever came up to me whining; she was obviously saddened that I was leaving.

                I crotched down and hugged her as she gave me kisses, “oh Ginger, I’m going to miss you soooo much!” I stood back up to pet her on her head, “You be good for mom and dad ‘kay? No more chewing on shoes and socks ok??” I said waiving a finger at her.

                She painted and gave a bark as her response; I gave a small smiled realizing I really was leaving all my loved ones to be on the other side of the world. Dad came and put an arm around me, “We’ll take good care of her just how you do,” he said softly.

                That only made my eyes shine more with unshed tears, “ok...” was what I could only breathe out.

                He patted my back, “It’s time to go sweetie,”

                I got back into the back seat of the car and looked out the window as we drove off, I stared at my former home as it slowly became smaller and smaller.

                It’s crazy how such an exciting opportunity can create such sadness all in so little time. The sky was still slightly cloudy and there was not all the way out, everything looked like a hue of blue and grey.

                It took about an hour for us to finally get to the airport, and even longer to book my flight. When I got the ticket I stared at it thinking to myself.

                I’m really getting out of here huh.

                I looked down the foyer and I saw another girl with her family in a group hug, when she pulled back she looked at me and smiled. It was Crystal.

                She ran to me and crashed into me with a big hug, she had a tight grip for a girl her size.

                “You’re here!” she cried softly, I could see the tear stains in her eyes from crying earlier.

                I smiled, “I know… We’re really leaving, can you believe it,”

                She gave a heavy sigh, “I still can’t, and I was never expecting his to happen,”

                “Yeah, it’s crazy…”

                Both our parents came over to exchange hugs with us and told us they will miss us a lot.

                “I’ll miss you to, Mrs. And Mr. Tates,” crystal said.

                “We’ll try to call as much as we can,” I insured, that made my mom a little more happy.

                “Ding, Flight to Seoul Korea will departure in 10 minutes at gate 32.” Said a woman in the intercom “I repeat, Flight to Seoul Korea will departure in 10 minutes at gate 32,”

Our eyes widened, we gave our parents quick kisses and hugs, took ours bags, and ran to gate 32.

                Out of breath we managed to get our stuff packed and our seats just in time, I closed my eyes and took a sigh of relief then looked at Crystal.

                “Man…We're actually here,”

                “I know right?” Crystal replied, “It’s so hard to say goodbye to our family…”

                “Yeah,” I said softly, “They’re going to miss us like we will miss them,”

                “Good morning flight attendants this is Adam Lee and I will be your pilot for this flight. So please make yourself comfortable and enjoy Delta Airlines.”  Said a man through the mike.

                “You know, this is my first time on a plane,” crystal admitted.

                I raised an eyebrow, “Really?”  The last airplane I been on was years ago, I think it was when we went to see family in California.

                Then she turned to me and smiled, “But I’m glad to have this experience with my best friend,”

                I smiled back, “Me to…”

Soon then, we started out decent, suddenly I became excited again; it was like a feeling of new adventure.

                Both crystal and I smiled at each other with these big grins and cried out in unison, “We’re going to Koreaaaa!!!”

                “SHH!” said I woman behind us.

                We snickered like to little girls in a library, “yaaaay” we cried out, but very softly.

                About an hour later we here up in sky, I looked out the window and I could see that we were above the clouds. It was so pretty, I turned to show Crystal but she was already asleep.

                I just smiled and tuned back to look at the view.