All I've Ever Wanted

I stood in the drive way, staring back at the house I’ve called home for the last sixteen years. I was about three years old then when we moved into this house, so I barely remember that time in my life. It was going to be quite a long time before I’ll see this place again. Tears prick in my eyes as I look back at the brown stone two-story home. I have so many memories from living here. I grew up in this house and watched my younger siblings grow up in this house. They were still young and growing themselves, my sister, Abigail – Abby – who was fifteen and growing up to be a nice young lady, even though she’s quite the drama queen. My brother, Brandon was ten, a good nine almost ten years younger than I was. That leaves me, I’m the oldest, nineteen years old, well, almost; in a few months, August, to be precise.

“Sam? You ready to get going? You’ll miss your flight!” my mom calls for me.

A sigh escapes my lips as I turn and begin to go over to where she was, waiting in the car for me. We were on our way to the airport; I was going out of the country for the summer, which is exciting and pretty nerve-racking, especially since this will be the first time I’ll ever be flying somewhere alone. I was going to London, England. It has always been my dream to go there and see what other places in the world had to offer.

“Yeah!” I call back as I fix the bag on my shoulder and walk quickly to the car. “Ready,” I mumble as I get in the front seat and buckle myself in, after shutting the door of my mother’s SUV.

My siblings were coming along to see me off, both pre-occupied by their electronic devices in the backseat. I pull out my phone along with my headphones so I can listen to some tunes to try and get my mind off the thought of going somewhere, for the first time, without my parents tagging along. Even though I’m eighteen, almost nineteen, I’m still pretty scared to be leaving my friends and family for an entire summer to go all the way across the pond, to England. I’m glad my aunt, uncle and cousins were willing to let me stay with them while I’m there for the summer. I was very thankful for them to be taking me in while I’ll be there.

I shut my eyes and rest my head against the window as my mom drives. It was still pretty early, in my book, nine fifteen in the morning. My flight wasn’t taking off from Portland until close to eleven, ten forty-five, I think, or somewhere around that time frame. Before too long, my shoulder is being lightly tapped on. I jump at the sudden movement and open my eyes.

“Huh?” I question as I look over to see my mom, brother and sister all staring at me. The passenger side door was open and my two siblings stood there, staring at me. My mom was probably already getting my things out of the back.

“We’re here at the airport, Samantha, c’mon, let’s grab your bags and get on going inside,” my mom calls to me.

“Okay,” I call back as I sit up and make sure I didn’t somehow lose my ticket, boarding pass, and passport.

They were all safe in my bag, which makes me let out a sigh of relief. I don’t know what I would do if I had forgotten those; no trip to London for me. I get out of the car and step onto the pavement, shutting the door. It was dark, wherever we were, a parking garage, I take it. I push my bag further up my shoulder as I head to the back of the vehicle so I can get my carry-on and other suitcases. My mom opens the back and pulls out my suitcase, setting it on the ground.

After we get all my bags and things I was taking with me, the four of us, minus my dad, who had to be at work early. It was alright though, I told him my goodbyes last night, plus I put a reminder in my iPhone to call both him and my mom once I arrive safely to London.

I pull my one rolling suitcase behind me as we walk in through the sliding glass doors. I let out a shaky, nervous sigh as I stop near the entrance of the line where I have to go to check my bags in. I turn to my mom, a sad smile on my face. She comes forward and pulls me into a hug. I can’t help but tear up a bit as I tighten my hold on her. I know I was just leaving for the summer, but still, I was going to miss her, and my dad. I was even going to miss my siblings, however, the one thing I won’t miss is how the three of us argue sometimes, but hey, we’re siblings, plus it happens.

“I’ll miss you mom,” I tell her, my voice quivering a bit as I spoke. The two of us have always been close; we talk about almost everything and do a lot of things together.

“I’ll miss you so much more Sam, my sweet girl,” she mutters and I can tell she’s close to crying. She also reminds me that my aunt Cindy will be there to pick me up at the airport in London when I arrive.

“Don’t cry mom, I’ll only be gone for a few months, for the summer, and I’ll be back before you know it,” I remind her with a smile and sniffle a bit.

“I know, but this is the first time you’re leaving the country on a big trip! Love you,” she exclaims and presses a kiss to the top of my head.

“Love you more,” I tell her as we pull away from our tight hug and I notice her wipe a few tears away from her eyes. I press a kiss to her cheek and hug her tight once more. After a good few minutes, I finally pull away because if I don’t, I won’t want to leave.

I sniffle again and roll my eyes because I feel like I’m close to crying. Ugh, I groan as my own eyes begin to fill up with tears. I hated being emotional, I was way too emotional of a person, especially when it comes to my family and ones close to me. I don’t know why I’m this upset, I mean, I’m just going away for the summer, but I’ll be coming back. This is also the first trip I’ll ever be going on by myself in my eighteen years.

“I’ll miss you Sammy, you better call me every day!” she exclaims with a smile as she comes forward and pulls me into a hug. I give her a smile and nod my head as we part from the hug.

“I will for sure, Abs! Love you,” I tell her and give her a kiss on the cheek.

She gives me a smile and mumbles back a “love you too,” as I walk over to give Brandon a hug. He groans as I give him a small kiss on top of his head. I laugh a bit at his reaction. “Bye Squirt, I’ll miss you, B!” I tell him and give his shoulder a slight squeeze.

“I’ll miss you too, Sammy,” he replies with a small smile.

I walk over and grab my bags so I can get in line to check them in. it takes about close to fifteen minutes because something was wrong on their end which made me even more nervous, because I didn’t want a single thing to go wrong. It was also a bit on the expensive side, which my mom took care of for me, which was nice of her. After I check them in, I grab my backpack I was taking on the plane with me, which held my laptop along with all of my chargers, including my camera, my purse resting on my right shoulder.

Mom comes forward and pulls me into one of her bone-crushing hugs. I tighten my arms around her and hug her tight as I can. After a few minutes, I decide I should start heading toward security, because the line was starting to get longer. I give each of them one last hug and kiss their cheek before I head over, boarding pass and passport in one hand, my phone in the other. I continue on because if I look back, I’ll most likely turn around and not want to go, but I really wanted this, more than anything. I was excited! My backpack was resting comfortably on my back and my purse strap across my shoulder.

A good ten minutes later, I manage to make it through security. It was a pain because I had to take off the rings and necklace I was wearing, one with a charm my mom gave me a few years ago on my 15th or 16th birthday. Once I get through the security check point, I grab all my belongings after I slip my feet back into my shoes. I press the lock button on my iPhone so I can check the time. It was a few minutes after ten. My flight wasn’t boarding until thirty minutes or so.

I go over to take a seat while I wait for my flight to be called. I set my backpack in front of my feet and my purse in my lap. To pass time, I take out my phone and begin to play around on it for the time being as I wait for my flight to be called. I open up my Facebook app to see I had a few messages from a couple of my close friends; one from Mackenzie and Jade. They were asking if I was excited about going to England. I reply and tell each of them that I was but also very nervous to fly there.

Pretty soon, a woman’s voice comes over the intercom, “Flight 463 to London Heathrow on British Airways is now boarding. I repeat, flight 463 to London Heathrow is now boarding,” a voice booms loudly over the loud speaker.

I rise up from my seat and grab my backpack from the chair beside me and swing it over my shoulder. Once I get it on my back and tighten the straps on my shoulders, I clutch onto my ticket before I begin to make my way over to the respective gate so I could get on the plane.

I had to get in line behind a bunch of other people who were waiting to get on the plane, just like I was. I let out a sigh while I stand there. I held onto my boarding pass and passport tightly in my hand so I could give it to the person whoever was taking them. The line is pretty long, a couple people in front of where I was.

Before I know it, the line begins to move. Thankfully, I can finally move up! I think to myself as I move up in the line. I was almost up there, still behind a couple of people who were holding up this line. As I look behind me, I notice there was a ton of people waiting to get on. After a couple minutes or so, I am finally the next person.

I hand the girl my ticket and she gives me a big smile. “Have a nice flight!” the girl, Sarah, told me and motioned for me to follow behind the other people to get on the plane. I give her a small smile and mutter a ‘thanks’ before I walk down the passageway that led to where I would be for the next eight or nine hours.

I soon walk onto the plane and begin to look for my seat. I soon find my seat and put my backpack up into the compartment above me before sitting next to the window. I plug my headphones in and get lost in my music as I stare out the window. I couldn’t believe that I was actually on a plane about to go half way across the world to a place I’ve always dreamed of going to. London, here I come!