ATLANTA, GEORGIA Baby :)

    I did not know we were going on a vacation until my mother told me the day before. “We are going to Georgia for a week. We are coming  back on Monday,” my mom said. “What?! But I have to do community service at the church on Monday!” I exclaimed. “Then stay with grandma.” I was furious to tell you the truth. I don’t like staying with my grandma because there is nothing to do. I didn’t want to have my summer wasted. 

    I had two options: One- to stay with my grandma and not miss doing community service which I intended to do or two- go to Georgia. I thought carefully about this because I really needed the hours, but at the same time, I wanted to have an adventure. After pondering long and hard, I realized “Hey I can do both! Besides, missing a day or two wouldn’t hurt. There are other opportunities out there.” So that is exactly what I did. I contacted Ms. Dupuis, a teacher who introduced us in doing the community service the day before we headed to Georgia and told her about the situation; I was so ecstatic because she was perfectly okay with it. 

  We took two cars: one is my family’s car and the other is my step dad’s family’s car. It was a full house I tell you. These are the people who came with us, but first I’ll introduce those who were in our car: my baby brother, Junior, my baby sister, Alisha, my brother, Derek, my step dad, my mother, a friend (Sunny), and me (Kellina)! Now those who were in my step dad’s family car were: Amanda, Boo, Phillip, Chris, Cla, and their parents.( I apologize for giving you the yellow book, but this will help you understand my trip better.)

    We were going to Georgia to visit their huge family. During the long, boring drive,  my heart wanted to escape from me when I saw the Louisiana sign. The feeling was so exhilarating. “We are far from home,” I thought to myself. Then after twelve hours, we reached Georgia. To tell you the truth, I became a little homesick; I missed Texas and my friends. I was worried about not having fun and the new people I have to meet. When the car stopped, I took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” And less than a blink of an eyes, almost everyone ran eagerly to the door. 

   There was a lot of people- many greetings. Cla, Phillip, and Amanda ran inside the house as if it were their’s. “Aww man, I’m never going to get use to this,” I sighed. I stuck to Amanda everywhere I went like a blood sucking leeche. I was soooo bored, so I took a walk outside with Amanda on a steep street and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine while it was raining  back in Dallas. When we went back to the house, everyone was in the car waiting for us. “Where were ya’ll?!” my mom yelled. “Ummm walking,” I hesitated. “You know this is a dangerous neighborhood. This is not home.” I just went inside the car and did not say a word. “I wish I were home,” I gloomly thought as I stared blankly out the window.

   When we reached another house, there was another family we had to meet. Greetings, hugging, and handshaking began again and I just stood there in an awkward state. There were two teenage girls named Chanda and Sierra that I saw. I did the unexpected and said “hi”, but they just looked at me in  a mean way. When they went inside their room, Amanda went with them. I felt naked. “C’mon Kellina,” she pleaded. “No, i”m okay. I’m with Junior,” I smiled. Then after she left, I felt the smile disappear. I wanted to go home already.

  However, the next day, turned out different. We went to Alena’s house (Amanda’s cousin). It was so beautiful and enormous. The backyard was  so pretty because it had a pond with fish in it, a garden with variety of plants, a playground set, and a canopy. I thought I was in heaven. This made my day, but Chanda and Sierra still didn’t want to talk to me. If was in a room with them, they’ll leave. They were playing karaoke with Alena and Amanda. “You want to try?” Amanda asked me. I rejected. “C’mon, you know how to sing!” After some seconds, I smiled then she handed me the microphone. I sung “Sk8ter Boi” by Avril Lavigne. I sung with all my heart and actually had fun doing it. “Dang Kellina, you can sing!” Chanda said. I could not help but grin really wide. I had a lot of fun and  enjoyed my stay there for the rest of the days that remain.  From there, they introduced me to many people and I felt like I was part of their family.

   The day that we wished didn’t come, came. We all had to pack up our belongings and get ready to leave for Texas. As we headed towards the car, people were beginning to say bye. I was avoiding them to save me the pain. Then out of nowhere a a man said,” Hey why ya’ll saying bye for? ya’ll better not leave yet. Wait  until we go to Riverdale (the first house we went to).” People stopped saying good-byes and laughter bursted everywhere and so we drove to Riverdale.

  Once we reached there, I  hung out with the kids and teenagers- trying to enjoy the night as much as we can. We took many pictures to remember our time there. Then suddenly I hear a voice from a distance,” Hey guys, time to go!” Everyone stopped what they were doing and solemnly made their way out the door. I heard scattered byes and saw cameras flashing as we headed out the door. “Sexy girls over here! Take a picture of them!” Everyone laughed. “After they took a picture of us, someone said, “Sexy boys turn!” Despite the laughter and smiles thrown about, something inside me began to grow- love and appreciation for these people.

  I didn’t think it would be possible to miss them as much as I had missed Texas. When I got home, I was surprised to find that I had many friend requests from the people whom I’ve met in Georgia on “Facebook”. However, I don’t think of them as friends. They are my family no matter how far or unrelated our bloods are.