The Presidents Daughter

Dreams Don't Work Unless You Do

Aaliyah

After much anticipation we arrive in Sochi. And once we get there both Patrick and I were met with a lot of media presence. Both in our own rights, but it's not secret that Patrick and I were good friends at this point. There's no hiding it anymore nor did we want to really. There was pictures of us skating together and him giving me my necklace and us out at lunches or me at his games. We weren't trying to make our relationship known because people don't have boundaries. They think they know me or him and they just assume what our relationship is like even though it's nothing like that. But we couldn't hide forever and I've been waiting for forever to put this beautiful friendship on social media and talk to my friends who I don't live with about it. So I guess it's a blessing in disguise that it's all out there, but still a pain in the ass.

"You have as many followers here as Patrick does" Erica teases me and I blush.

"Yeah. And only 20% of them hate me" I joke.

"Well we love you. Not as much as Patrick does, but we still love you" she promises. I look at her weird but I try not to read into it. I know better than to ask questions I don't want to know the answer to.

"So what's the plans for today" I wonder as we walk around. We've been here for two days but those were used to catch up on sleep. Now we're well rested and ready to go.

"Let's go to Olympic village and take a bunch of pictures" Jessica says.

"Sounds like a plan to me" I admit.

So we take off and get to the village. There was a lot of people out and about in the meantime before all the fun begins. We end up in the shops trying things on and learning about the Russian culture. I end up buying us all matching bracelets and for the first time in a long time I've felt accepted. I wasn't forced into this friendship, it wasn't set up or orchestrated. Like me with their brother it just felt right to be together. I couldn't wait to hang out with them and share laughs and take pictures. I finally felt like I was getting closer to finding what I was looking for and I loved it.

"So what do you guys want to do when you get older" I ask as we walk around. I try to keep to myself and not draw to much attention.

"I want to be a interior designer" Jackie claims and I smile.

"I love that. I want to get a house in Chicago and would love for you to design it" I insist.

"Oh, I don't have my degree yet. I'm still in school" she says.

"I don't mind. True talent can't be taught anyway so it doesn't make a difference to me" I say.

"You have a lot more faith in me than most people" she notices.

"I believe in the people of this world. Being the presidents daughter I guess I should, but that doesn't mean I do. My sisters won't even leave the Whitehouse unless they have to because they believe people are so awful. But I do want to believe we are good people, I want to believe in helping other people and believing in them. And I believe in you, you've given me no reason not to" I remind her.

"Man, I wish we were friends way before this. I could have used someone like you when I first started college and everyone said I was wasting my time doing interior design" she says.

"It's never a waste of time to do what you love" I promise.

"What do you love" Erica wonder and I smile.

"I love people. I love how every single one of us has the chance to be something amazing, even if it's something amazing to just one or two people. But we can touch lives and they can touch others and soon enough happiness and love is spreading like a disease.

When I was in high school I have a club that focused on making Chicago a better place. The catch phrase was "nothing changes if nothing changes" and we focused on helping people who needed it. It was a be the change you want to see in the world kind of thing. I went to a rich private school where the kids there had bundle of opportunities to put their good fortune in the hands of others. I wanted to show people how much change we can make.

Then my dad started running for President and he adopted my principle. He said "Make a Change" and a lot of people didn't get it. A lot of people still don't. But he wanted people to know that putting him in charge doesn't fix everything. And he could only do so much, a lot of the change we want to see starts with us.

So I love people, and not who we are per say but who we can be. I guess thats why I struggle with finding myself. I can be anything I can want, but what should that be? Who should I be" I say.

"I don't think you should change one bit. You're the coolest person I know and I think you're going to change the world. You've defiantly changed mine" she claims and I smile

"Then I must be doing something right."

After hanging out all day we meet back up with Patrick. We decided to get some food and try some of the Russian delicacy's around here. So I step out of my comfort zone and I change my way of thinking. It was pretty scary but it ended up being really delicious.

"I'm really happy you're here" Patrick mentions as we wait for the check. I smile up at him as he sat next to me. He had his arm around the back of my chair making sure I wasn't going anywhere.

"I am too. I had so much fun hanging out with your sisters today" I claim and he looks at me worried.

"Are you sure those were my sisters" he asks making me giggle.

"Stop being so hard on them" I beg as I hit his shoulder playfully. "Not everyone is blessed with a god given talent like you. Your sisters have dreams that aren't related to hockey you know, beautiful dreams too. A lot of them were put on hold because they want to be here for you, especially since your grandad passed. But they have things they want to do, as long as you're around" I say.

"You're so good for not just me, but my family too. I'm so lucky to have you" he claims making me blush. He moves a piece of hair out of my face and I try to hide my smile. But it is impossible when he says stuff like that.

"The feeling is mutual" I assure him.