Left on the Sidelines

-Danielle-

Here I am: just turned 17 and being shipped off to live with my cousins in a town just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. My parents wanted me to, in their words, 'Get used to living in Nashville before I start college in two years'. They've always had this dream of me going to Vanderbilt University for business. Which, if you think about it, is kind of funny considering I'm not at all interested in pursuing a career in business. I'm more of a hands-on kind of person. I don't want a 9 to 5 job where I have to sit in some cramped office cubicle and change toner or refill paper in a printer God knows how many times a day. I don't want that. I want to get out - be able to explore everything. It's always been my dream to be a photographer. My parents - and no one in my family, really - seem to understand that. They're all about business and being on schedule and following the same boring routine day after day after day. Call me crazy, but I want my life to have excitement. I don't want to know exactly what I'll be doing or where I'll be going the next day. I just want to do it. No limitations, no schedule, no routine. Just me, my camera, and wherever my feet take me.

Anyway, enough about that. I don't want to bore you with all this talk about the future I don't want. Let's get to right now. And right now is at the Indianapolis International Airport.

"You're gonna have fun," my mom said, pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head. "Yeah, being transferred to a high school in a totally different state to work up to a career that I don't even want is certainly what I'd consider fun," I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Now, I don't want you giving your aunt and uncle any trouble," my dad said, pulling me in for a hug as well. "I got it, I got it," I mumbled, "But something about going to live with people I haven't seen since I was 5 for the next two years of my life just doesn't really appeal to me."

"Flight 263 to Nashville, now boarding," a woman's voice said over the intercom. "We'll see you on Thanksgiving and Christmas when we come down to visit, alright?" my mom said, handing me my carry-on bag. I muttered a thank you and nodded, walking off to the gate and handing the lady there my ticket. I turned back around, smiling lightly and waving goodbye to my parents before walking through a hallway and stepping onto the plane and finding my seat, leaving this small town in Indiana for city life of Nashville.