"You call. You write. You text. You skype-"
"Mom, I will. I promise."
"I'm going to miss you so much." My mother says pulling me into a tight hug. I smile as I wrap my arms around her.
"I'm gonna miss you too mom. And I'm also going to miss my flight if you don't let go."
"Right." She lets go and I step back.
"I love you. Call me when you land."
"I will mom. I love you too." I pick up my bag from the ground and start to walk inside when my mom starts talking again.
"And tell your brother to call me too!"
"I will mom!" I keep walking inside and go up to check my bag.
Today was the day I was finally moving to Hawaii to live with my older brother Everest. He moved there about three years ago, and I decided it was time I go down there too.
"Now boarding flight number 256." I stand up and put one of the straps from my backpack over my shoulder. I walk up to the lady checking the tickets and smile as I hand her mine.
"Have a safe trip." She says as she hands me my ticket back.
"Thank you." I grab my ticket and start walking to the airplane. I find my seat by the window, smiling because my brother remembered that I love the window seat, and he's the one who bought my plane ticket. I put my backpack under my seat and sit down. I look out the window to see a few other planes and the large mountains behind them. Living in Hawaii is going to a big change from living in Boise, Idaho. I'm finally going to have an ocean but no snow. That's weird to think about.
"Thank you for flying delta airlines-" the lady went on to give the speech they have to give about safety and everything and I just sat back and pretended to listen. I know it's not a great idea to ignore her but I've flown on an airplane so many times, I know the drill. A few minutes go by and the plane finally starts moving. I pull my phone out and plug my headphones in and start playing my airplane playlist. I make conversation with the lady sitting next to me for a few and then end up falling asleep.
I wake up as the plane starts to land. I take a deep breath and do a small stretch, doing my best not to hit the lady next to me. I look out the window and see the ocean and a smile grows across my face. Oh I missed the ocean.
"Have you ever been to Hawaii before?" The lady that was next to me asks.
"Once when my brother first moved here about three years ago. Now I'm moving here."
"Oh, well welcome. I have lived here my whole life and I love this island more and more every day."
"Well that's good to here. My brother seems to really enjoy it so I'm excited."
"Where are you from?" She asks me as I pull my backpack out from under my seat.
"I was born in San Diego, California but my mom moved us to Boise, Idaho when I was about nine, and now sixteen years later, I'm here."
"Boise, wow. That's where I just came from because I was visiting some friends. It's a beautiful city."
"It really is. I'm gonna miss it, that's for sure."
"I'm sure." She smiles at me and starts packing her stuff up. I unplug my headphones from my phone and roll them up to put back in my backpack. About ten minutes later everyone is slowly making their way off of the plane, and I text my brother to let him know the plane had landed and I would meet him at baggage claim. It takes a while for me to get to baggage claim, and once I did, I spotted my brother right away. A giant smile grew across his face causing me to smile too. I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him.
"You're finally here!" He says wrapping his arms around my tightly.
"I am. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too sis. I'm so happy that you're here forever."
"Me too." He lets me go and we walk over to where all the suitcases were coming out.
"So how was your flight?"
"It was good. I mean super long, but good."
"Yeah I know. That flight isn't my favorite."
"I met a pretty nice local woman though, so that made it a little enjoyable having someone to talk to."
"That does make it nice."
I see my bag come around and I grab it off.
"You only have one bag?"
"Well that I flew with. Mom is shipping the rest of my stuff."
"Oh okay. I was like, who are you and what have you done with my hoarder sister?"
"I am not a hoarder." I say playfully pushing him.
"Yeah whatever you say. You ready to go home?"
"More than ready." We walk out to his 2006 Toyota Tacoma and Everest puts my bag in the bed of the truck as I slide into the passenger side. I set my backpack on the ground next to my feet. The drive back to his house was amazing. On one side was nothing but ocean and the other side was filled with greenery that I've never seen before. It was about a 45 minute drive until we pulled down a short dirt road and pulled into his driveway.
"Damn. I know you sent us pictures when you bought this place but this is so pretty."
"I know. And the ocean is practically in my- our, backyard." When he said our, I couldn't help but smile. I live here now and it's so hard to believe. "I'll grab your bag. You go look around. The front door is unlocked."
"Okay." I grab my backpack and put my arms through the straps. I walk around the house, taking in all the beauty. The backyard was large and at the end of it, was a stone staircase that went down to the beach. There were a few people on the beach and playing in the water, my guess is they were neighbors. I took my phone out and took a picture and posted it on my Snapchat.
'Home sweet home' I type over the picture. I walk back around to the front of the house and walked in the front door. To the left was a decent sized living room surrounded with windows. The couch wrapped around in the corner and he had a large TV set up on the wall that divides the living room and the kitchen. To the right was a wall that pretty much divided the house in two, with one large arch way in the middle. Once you go through the arch way, there are two doors on the left, I believe that are bedrooms. Straight back at the end of the hall was a large bathroom and to the right of that was another door that led to my brothers room.
"You're room is the second door closest to the bathroom." Everest said opening the door, showing the tan bedroom.
"What's in the other bedroom?"
"Nothing right now, but I have a buddy who's thinking about moving in next week because him and his girlfriend that he was living with broke up."
"Oh. Sad. But that's nice of you to let him live with you."
"Us. Live with us."
"Right. Us. I live here. In Hawaii!"
"Haha yes. In Hawaii. I will let you get set up and we can go get dinner here in about an hour?"
"Sounds good." I walk into the medium sized bedroom and smile.