One Step at a Time

I woke up to my alarm at 6 in the morning and shot out of bed excited and ready to go. I ran downstairs to see if Tris and Trent were up yet and to my surprise they were. They looked at me and smiled, and I ran to them and hugged them.

"Well someone's excited" Trent laughed. I looked him and smiled

"Yeah, I am. Which is a major surprise, any who, can you call mom and grandma for me and see if they want to meet up with us for breakfast before we go to the airport?"

"I guess I can do that." He scruffed up my hair like he used to do when we were little and I turned and ran up the stairs to get dressed.

I went over to my dresser and grabbed the last outfit I had in there and threw it on. It was a pair of black yoga pants, with a red tank top and my favorite blackhawks hoodie. I then went to my shoe rack and put on my black converse shoes and went to brush my teeth and put my make up on. By the time I was done and we were actually ready to go it was almost 8. We finished putting my stuff in the car and I ran out to the barn to say goodbye to my horses. I then ran back to the house, put the leashes on the dogs, and hopped in the car. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa all agreed to meet up with me at Ihop before my flight.

The ride there was more talkative than I thought it would be, we talked about almost everything, hockey, Chicago, life here, life there, anything. It was more bittersweet than anything else though.
By the time we got there it was about 8:15 and everyone was already sitting down with drinks. They must have ordered everything for us considering the waitress never came back to get anyone’s order. Just like the car ride we were talkative, breakfast was delicious, and by the time we were done it was 9:14, I had to be at the airport by 10 to get past clearance and everything else. Plus with the dogs we had to find out about what we were going to do with them, considering this was my first time flying with dogs. We all went outside to say goodbye after we paid. We walked to my car and I turned around and looked at mom who was already tearing up. I walked over to her and gave her a tight hug and broke. I’ll admit, I cry a lot, but this was it for me.

“I’ll call you as soon as I land. I promise.”
“Okay honey. Be safe, call me whenever you can.”

I nodded and moved onto my Grandma who was about half the size of me, I bent down and cried with her, she was there for me through everything and I couldn’t believe this was goodbye.

“Call me also, don’t forget about me.”
“Grandma, I won’t ever be able to forget you. Ya know with the stories and all.” I joked with her, she always had the best stories and swore they were real. From a 4 foot talking turkey to a green goat, she always made a way to make me laugh.

I then made my way to my Dad and Grandpa who never cried. But here they were crying. I gave them a tight hug and told them I loved them. Afterwards I went to Ryan, who gave me her favorite stuffed horse. “Horsie” as she called her.

“It has all of my love in it, so if you ever get sad or start to miss us, just hug her.” She said as I bent down to hug her.

After I hugged Ryan I moved back to my grandma, said I loved her and went to my mom once more, she was the one I really let myself out on. I told her I loved her and she said she loved me too and for me to be strong, because I was doing a good thing. I nodded and she kissed my forehead. I kissed her cheek and let her go.. I walked over to the car and got inside. I looked up at Trent and Tris who were sitting in the front seat with tears in their eyes. I smiled faintly…

“We can go now”

Trent nodded and I turned away to wave goodbye at my upset family.

Notes