Vacation

            The metal frame shook and made deafening sounds as it hurdled through the air above the blue waves. The tiny airplane dropped twenty feet and my stomach was forced into my throat. Blood surged to my head and caused unbearable nausea. My head throbbed and the whole room spun, good thing they provided puke bags. This turbulence was unbearable. I could barely hear myself think. I never trusted these things. I thought I was going to die at least 5 times every time my family flew in one of these death machines. 

            Finally, after almost forty painstaking minutes, the beaches became viewable through the tiny windows. The lush, verdant forest came into view and the beaches became a beige outline of the expansive emerald trees. Suddenly the airplane ride didn’t seem so bad. The plane started its descent as we neared the gray scar across the island.  I could already see the small crowd of people congregated around the small building that served as the airport.  We made a bumpy landing and slowed to a stop alongside the crowd. I could see their ecstatic faces and them waving ferociously. The side door creaked as the pilot let us out.

“Here we go,” said my mom sadly, and stepped out.

“You’re so big!” was the first thing I heard after exiting. I looked to see who had said it and saw my Aunt Fiona with a huge grin across her face. She gave a huge bear hug and directed me over to my other assorted relatives.  I greeted, hugged, and kissed all of them in exchange for amazed looks and comments about how much I’ve grown and how handsome I am now. I said thank you over and over again and my face started to hurt after keeping the smile on it for so long. Then my grandpa approached me with a stupid smirk on his face, followed by him saying, “Don’t listen to them, you’re still ugly.” He laughed hysterically and pulled me towards the car.

“Let’s load up your shit and get out of here.” I loaded the various bags into his white suburban and hopped in the shotgun. We left the crowd behind and headed on the unpaved roads into the woods.  We drove through the green tunnel made by the trees and tried to as much wildlife as possible. Turkeys, deer and the occasional beaver could be spotted alongside the road and my grandpa would shout and point and become overly excited at the spotting of each one. 

            We rounded the final curve suddenly all of the trees were gone. They were replaced by the expansive bay and the shimmering, cerulean waters.  The beach homes that lined the golden shore passed us by until we reached the triangular, wooden house that was lined with windows that we called ours.