Homecoming

It was sadly the day that I had to fly back home to America. I ended up waking up at 3 am because I forgot to pack the night before, of course. Katie and Michael woke up at 5am to get ready. My plane was leaving at 7am. I made popcorn for breakfast because Katie didn’t want me going on a plane with an empty stomach.  We ended up having to taking Diesel because Michael dropped the ball on getting a doggy sitter to watch him. Diesel and I sat in the back seat and cuddled. Katie told me to watch him in case he got motion sickness and to not feed him my popcorn because that also makes him sick.

            We all talked a while but I was getting tired so I took a short nap, but I was awoken when diesel was dry heaving and I had to shove his head out the window so he could puke. It’s really funny to look back at now and I still feel bad for all the cars that had to see poor Diesel puking on the expressway. Shortly after his episode, Katie’s Delta Airlines app informed her that my flight was going to be delayed until 10 o’clock. That upset me because all I wanted was to go home and my mom promised me that when I came back she and my dad would take me for Chinese that I was craving for the whole month I was gone.

            We finally made it to the airport and we luckily found a close parking spot. Michael and Katie helped me find my terminal. Michael and Katie hugged me and of course, Katie and I cried. Michael left then because he had to go make sure Diesel didn’t get into my popcorn and throw up while we were gone. Katie watched me as I went through security and with tears in my eyes, I walked away.

            Since my flight was delayed, I didn’t have a gate to wait at so I pretty much strolled around the airport for 3 hours. I went to the gift shops and bought some of my friends souvenir since I stupidly promised them I’d get them something. I found a Beatles key chain that said Abbey Road and I figured that’d be good enough for my Beatles loving friend who’s name was conveniently Abby.

            The 3 hours slowly passed and I finally found out my gate number and then waited another 1 at my gate waiting for the plane to be ready. As I got on the plane, I sat down in my seat and I again had a window seat and there was 3 seats in each row and I was really hoping I wouldn’t get anyone to sit next to me so I could actually lay down to sleep. I almost was in the clear until 2 Indian men came and sat next to me. I was upset because I already had to use the bathroom and they barely spoke English. When lunch came, I didn’t get a drink so that I wouldn’t have to go bathroom.

            3 hours on the plane passed and  I couldn’t sleep for more than 20 minutes so I ended up playing candy crush and after I ran out of lives I watched the same movies as I had when I flew to England. I was in a crappy mood and I really didn’t know why. I assumed it was because I had to leave Katie but I should have been happy to see my parents again.

            Eventually the plane landed at 1 o’clock Michigan time and I went through customs again. This time, the customs man was even more mean than the British one. He asked me redundant questions and kept asking if I was smuggling things into the country. I don’t know how a girl was a messy bun and a Michigan state sweater could look so suspicious, but after 10 minutes of him hounding me, I finally made it through and got my bags and walked through the hallway and the first people I saw were my parents. I’ve never ever in my life seen my dad cry, and that was the first day. My father is a strong man but I guess he has a soft spot for his little girl.

            As my mom promised, we stopped and got me Chinese food and I ate my weight in chow mein and orange chicken. We then drove the 3 hours back home and as we pulled into my driveway, I saw people sitting on my trampoline. I got out of my dads truck and ran over to my friends and started crying, again. I was so moved by their surprise. Even though I was gone for a month and we barely talked, when I met them it was like no time had gone by. Then I saw my dogs and I hugged Max and Lucy and I laughed at how chubby Lucy was. Diesel was lean and tall and I never realized how short and stubby Lucy was.

            I’ll forever remember my trip to England and I hope I can go back some day.

Home Sick

Even though going to England was a blessing and I got to spend time with my sister and brother in law, there was some things I missed when I was there. It was my last summer to be together with my friends, and I did spend a lot of time with them while I was still in America, but being gone that month made me fell as if I was missing out on my senior summer. When it was 3am in England, it was 10pm in America and my phone would blow up from my friends sending me snapchats of the parties they were at or how they were having a Disney movie marathon. The movie marathon was my idea in the beginning of the summer and I was a little upset that they waited until I was gone to actually do it. I had to miss the county fair. Our county fair sucks, but my group of friends would go and somehow make it tons of fun. We’d ride the few rides and waste our money at the games and make it into a competition of who could win the most prizes by the end of the night. Then we’d usually drive to taco bell and head back to someone’s house for the night. I saw pictures on Facebook and Instagram of all the fun they were having, and I felt bad for wishing I could be with them when I was in England.

I also really missed my parents and my other siblings. I missed when my mom and I would spend summer days working on our tan or hoeing the garden and having girl time. I especially missed my sister Messina. She is the sister I go to when I want to go do outdoorsy stuff. I missed her big annual tubing party where all of her, her husband’s and even my friends get together and go tubing down the Rifle River on a 5 hour trip and at the end of the night we have a bon fire. England was amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat but it was tough having to leave my friends and my summer behind for that whole month.

New Market and Ely Horses

It was my last week in England and my sister had wanted to take me to New Market, a town just down the road from Lakenheath. She claimed they had the best tea but I knew she really just wanted to see the horses. Katie is obsessed with horses. She’s not one of those crazy horse girls who have horse shoe charms on her bracelets and wear cow boy boots with everything, but if she could have one animal, she’d choose a horse. New Market was known for their prestigious “horse school” where some of the Royalty’s horses go to be taught.

           

We got to New Market around 10:30 am so that we could have tea and sit on the balcony of the tea shop and watch as the horses frolicked in the pasture. It was actually a beautiful sight. There was big clydsdales, paints, and I even saw a black stallion which I rightfully named Black Beauty. We took a walk downtown and saw riders with their horses and there was a little foal walking in step with its mother. It was adorable. He was brown and still had fuzzy hair on him.

           

We stopped at another tea shop for lunch and I had a scone, which I thought would be good, but it wasn’t. I had ordered a cheese scone and should have gotten the plain scone with jelly. It was dry and tasted like stale bread. I was not impressed. After lunch we walked back to our car and headed to Ely Cathedral just down the road.

            

This is an irrelevant story but the day before, we took Diesel to his weekly dog obedience class. Diesel is a socially awkward dog. He’s afraid of all other dogs, even dogs who are smaller than him. With that being said, there was a 6 month old German Shepard who liked to start fights and he decided to start one with Diesel. But instead of fighting back, Diesel ran away and the German Shepard bit his butt and we had to take him to get stiches, and a cone. So as we were on our way to the vet, we passed Ely and thought it would be a neat trip for just Katie and I to take.

          

Ely isn’t as big as London. It’s probably as big as my hometown and the only reason why it’s a frequently visited place is because of the mid-evil cathedral that hasn’t been remodeled since it was built in 970, and is still used as the community church. Behind the church is a park that you can openly visit. There is also a horse pasture where the horses will come close to the fence so that they can eat the sugar cubes and apple slices you can buy from the caretaker of the horses. We took some of my senior pictures in Ely and it was a beautiful quaint little town that I’d love to go back and visit some day. And I suggest you should do the same if you get the chance.