"It's Grow Up Time"

These are the words my dad whispered in my ear as he hugged me goodbye at the airport. And boy was he right. The details of my journey to Budapest are nothing too out of the ordinary. You know, except for the fact that I almost missed my connection flight in London to Budapest by about 10 seconds. That wasn’t one of the scariest moments of my life at all…naaah

It started out alright. I said goodbye to the parental units, said goodbye to him. Cried, like I knew I would. Then I was off to London. The 7 hour plane ride to London was fine. I barely slept though, mostly because of my nerves. I did, however, have an excellent 3-course meal, with a complementary bottle of white wine (that was rather tasty). I listened to songs that reminded me of him for the 5 hours I didn’t sleep, and thought about how much the next 5 months are going to suck without him. Almost cried 3 or 4 times. You know…the usual.

Then. I got to London. It.Was.Horrifying. Heathrow airport is bigger than the city of Bowie, MD. At least, that’s what it felt like. You have to take a bus to get from one place to ANY other place; a bus ride that is at least 15 minutes no matter where you are going. So, like the genius I am, I go to the wrong terminal, go through the wrong security check point, and go to the wrong gate. THEN I realize how stupid I am. So I run back to the bus to take me to the right terminal. I wait for it to leave. I take the 15 minute bus ride, and then I run to the boarding pass check in place thing. I show them that my gate closes in 10 minutes so they let me through before everyone else. So I run to the security checkpoint. They let me go to the “first class priority something something” security checkpoint, which was WAY less crowded. And I am now looking at about 12 young men (mid to late 20s) that stand in my way of getting through security. I breathe and I pray,

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Then I hear my dad, “It’s grow up time!” So I breathe, and open my big, fat mouth, “Excuse me, does anyone mind if I go ahead of you? My gate closes in 2 minutes.” I must have looked pathetic. I was sweaty, near tears, and desperate. The gentlemen all looked right at me, smiled, nodded, and moved out of the way. I couldn’t believe it! I thanked them very graciously, and then I bolted! As I was about to start running again, one of the nice men said to me, “Don’t worry, you’ll make it.” Then I ran some more. The British Airways lady saw me running down the steps. She yelled, “Budapest?” “Yes!” I responded. She looks at me with a smile and says, “You just barely made it!” and all I could do was smile, thank her, and let out a giant sigh of relief.

You think that’s where I would board the plane. At the gate, right? WRONG. Another 15 minute bus ride. Jeeeez…..

Anyways, I got on the plane, changed my clothes and breathed. I breathed and I said another prayer and thanked God, those nice gentlemen, and my dad. Definitely grow up time. Definitely.