T.G.I.F

by: Sam

I successfully travelled all across the country today.

I went to sleep last night around midnight, after talking on the phone with Meryl.

Me: I have to wake up so early tomorrow to get to the airport. I’m so nervous I’ll oversleep.

Meryl: I’m waking up early, too, to go on a hot air balloon ride. I can call you.

Me: Yeah, that’d be good. I set four alarms, but call just in case.

Meryl: Four alarms? These are the things you need to include in the blog – the little neurotic things you do.

Well, there you go. Also, Meryl, I ended up not calling the front desk for a wake up call. I decided to trust my alarms. … Sort of.

I awoke a while after I fell asleep, feeling very well-rested and ready for my day. Surely, it must be time for me to get up, I thought.

I started to get out of bed … and then saw that it was only 1 a.m.

I went back to sleep.

Soon after, my alarm goes off. I sleepily grab my phone, like any morning, and start frantically pressing buttons to stop the noise. The alarm keeps going off, and I look at my phone.

“Call from John,” the screen says.

Annoyed, I answer the phone and tell John I have a plane to catch in a few hours. John and I then proceeded to argue about whether or not we would have a conversation.

I hang up and therefore win.

I awake again at 5 a.m., 50 minutes before my first alarm. I give up and get out of bed.

My airport shuttle arrives on time, and I make it to the airport two hours before my flight. Relieved to have made it thus far, I buy a coffee and take a seat. I then listen to the girl next to me loudly carry on a conversation with her uncle and then her aunt. She is just so excited to go see them – SO EXCITED THAT SHE MUST YELL.

So, I put on my headphones and listen to Gaga.

Then, a woman sits down on the other side of me … and on her lap sits her hyper dog (Leila), who must sniff my computer every few minutes.

Leila and her owner were pretty nice and calm though, unlike LOUD GIRL WHO WILL BE HOME SOON TO SEE UNCLE JIM AND AUNT SHANA!!!

Anyway, Loud Girl, Leila and Leila’s Owner soon leave me. (I was so early that I watched the flight before me board from my gate.)

I'm soon on my flight home, though, and suddenly, I feel like Loud Girl. I WANT TO DANCE AND SING AND TELL EVERYONE I’M GOING TO THE BEACH!

But, I don’t. Instead, I listen to the guy behind me talk to some poor person sitting next to him.

Chatty Guy: Are you nervous about flying? I fly all the time. I fly 300 days out of the year for my job. I just sleep on flights though. I used to not be able to. You see, I always sleep on my left side. My fiancée – excuse me, ex-fiancée – used to hate it, but she got used to it. Anyway, I have no trouble sleeping on planes now.

For a second, I wonder if Chatty Guy is on the phone and that's why I don't hear anyone answering him. Then I remember I’m on a plane, so no, he’s not. Some poor person is sitting there pretending to listen to him.

As I’m getting off the plane, Chatty Guy begins to talk to me. He even invites me to a Fourth of July party.

Gee, thank you, Chatty Guy, but I’m busy. In fact, I have to hurry off the plane now, bye!

As we’re landing, I text Andrew, who promised me over and over again he would not be late.

Andrew texts me back: “I’m not there yet.”

WHERE ARE YOU.

Andrew tells me he’s close, so I tell him to get me at baggage claim. I exit the plane and begin briskly walking toward baggage claim, weaving around slow walkers.

Then, someone comes running up behind me and hugs me. Andrew begins scolding me for walking so fast. He explains that I ran past him, and he had to jog to catch up.

We head home, get Kenzie’s boyfriend Mitch, who’s coming on our family vacation (Kenzie’s still in Italy. WE LOVE YOU, KENZIE.) We also get my brothers’ friend Steven. Then, the four of us set out on our drive to the beach to meet the rest of my family, including my little cousins from Virginia – the ones I played darts with, watched Lion King with, Gnomeo and Juliet, etc.

We hit lots of traffic, and our trip soon becomes a complaining fest – too much traffic, so hungry, WHY ISN’T THE RADIO PLAYING KATY PERRY’S NEW SONG MORE?!

We got here eventually, ate lots of dinner and lots of dessert. Now, the kids are going to sleep, and I’m sitting on the patio blogging and listening to Katy Perry's song on repeat. (T.G.I.F.).