d e c e m b e r

one::summer vacation

The summer was beyond compare even though the only real trip we went on was to New York City, which is where we go once a year, so it was nothing new. A bunch of day long trips and little things made this summer so great. The summer kicked itself off with a huge summer music festival, which consisted of mostly my favorite bands, and none of them played at the same time. It was like it was designed for me and it was great. This was the 2nd week of the summer and I got to meet one of the singers I idolize and love with my whole heart, who goes by the stage name of Alsed. Her bright and beautiful blue hair made my periwinkle colored hair mediocre by comparison. It was quite an amazing way to start this summer. The following weeks leading up to my birthday were filled with tennis practice and a day camp, that I regretfully hated until the very end, with my best friends and their younger siblings. When my birthday rolled around it was about 2 weeks later  in July, my mom let me have the very few friends I have come to the zoo with us, so it rounded out to be me my brother and parents and my cousin, we spent the day walking around and I was allowed a pretzel to share with my cousin. We roamed the zoo until we got hungry and left for dinner which turned up to be ice cream and pretzel pizza. The day at the zoo rounded out to be a sleep over in my living room with my cousin. We did truth or dares and challenges and watched movies until she fell asleep. 3:00 am. That was the dead center of the night and it was often the start of most terrifying hours for me. I tried to avoid the hours and thoughts jumping at me but I couldn't and I was awake until 6, crying, by then the air mattress had deflated mostly and I had a migraine which knocked me out. I woke up to my dad making rainbow waffles. He took an optimistic look at me, and could probably tell I had only gotten roughly 3 hours of sleep and asked me if I was alright. It took all of the happiness inside me to squeeze out a smile and a "yes, just tired" for a reply, and that itself made me more tired. The next weeks ran past us quickly and the next thing I knew I was on a plane to New York City for my yearly trip to visit my other cousins who lived there he next few days were the same as they were every year. Hanging out with my cousins Alex and Jaxon and messing with unsuspecting pedestrians under their balcony. Alex had red hair as well as a similar hair cut as I did. Jaxon realized this immediately and called us Opposite twins the rest of the week. Me and Alex were the closest of age, we did most things together.  I realized how much I love New York and how much I missed my cousins once we left. I was always with Alex and Jaxon, which was nice, as I'm not close to any of my other cousins, I don't experience this often enough, I'm convinced that they all hate me anyway. After a week of playing video games, meeting people and walking around the city, we had to leave, which dropped us off in Michigan in August, which, can be very unpleasant. This is the month of the 'escape trips' as my brother, James, calls it. Escape trips are at least 2 days long trips to places that are close to anywhere that's not home. Places like Chicago, Cedar Points, and Traverse City consumed my last weeks of summer break. And the exact moment that summer left, my happiness flew out the door right behind it.