𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝: 𝙴𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚜𝚎 (𝙳𝙺 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚡 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒)

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 3

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𝙱𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙺𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙽𝙴𝚆𝚂

{𝙳𝙴𝙺𝙰𝚈𝙻𝙸𝙽}

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{𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍: "𝚅𝙴𝙳𝙳𝚈" 𝚋𝚢 𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚠𝚔}
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Exiting the Philadelphia National Airport was like a breath of fresh air – "fresh" bein' the operative word.

There wasn't much that was fresh in Philly, but man did it feel to be back.

We picked up our rental and headed to our Airbnb. Someone was nice enough to let us stay in their loft while we were here. The price was ridiculously high. But since Bey and Kelly already paid for our stay, we just basked in the experience.

We stayed in Philly for a few days just enjoyin' ourselves. We showed Mani around our old neighborhood, took her a little ways out the city for sights, introduced her to people we haven't seen since our move.

One of our neighbors hosted a last minute block party just to celebrate our visit. One thing I missed about Philly...we knew how to get down.

"Aren't you gonna miss this?" Ma asked, her and I lounging around by our neighbor's pool. "That east coast feelin'?"

I smiled in thought.

"I will..." I answered.

"You'd have a better sense of community here..."

I looked down, her noticing before continuing.

"...I'm sorry baby. But I'll never see you again if you and Mani move to Alaska."

That was the point. There was no way I'd be able to be around my parents once I turned. At least, not for a while.

Thinkin' about it caused an overwhelming sense of guilt to wash over me. Seein' how far into my own head I was, Ma took a hold of my hand.

"The scenery up there is beautiful, Ma," I tried to explain.

"That," she replied, "and Mani would be even more beautiful lookin' at it, right?"

I smiled beside myself before lookin' inside the house. Mani was sitting not too far from the sliding door, talkin' to some of the other women from our neighborhood. She looked my way and offered a smile before going back to whatever conversation they were having.

"The way she watches you..." Ma said, "...it's like she's ready to leap in front of you and take a bullet or something..."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's an intense thing. And you're different with her. If she moves, you move...like ya'll magnets, or somethin'."

"We're just-"

"In love," she smiled. "I get it. I just want to make sure you're makin' the right choices for you. 'Cause you're the one who has to live with them."

I took that in, seein' that my choice in moving was bigger than just a geographical location.

"Alright, alright..." Ma said, "...enough with the heavy..."

I watched as she pulled something out of her bag.

"...happy graduation!"

"Ma!" I chuckled. "I told you and Pop not to waste ya'll money!"

"We didn't. Promise."

I unrolled the package to see it was a quilt. The more I unfolded it, the more I realized what it was. I felt emotion begin to well up as I looked at it.