A POEM ABOUT A TRIP
Flying through the air, Intrigued by what I may discover next, Glancing through the cold, thick, blurry windows, Where will this journey take me, Foreign language surrounds me, Lapping waves of the North Sea, My feet are wet Listening to the wind as we await our turn to eat, Sit says the hostess, Can I interest you in a glass of our finest wine, Send a bottle, In the comfort of my family, Enjoying each other's company. Quality time well spent, New friends Rewind time, Take me back. Take me to the tiki bar in Copenhagen Where I danced around, No fear. What do I have to worry about? Who cares what I look like, No one. The waves crash on the rocks The cold air blows my hair, Climbing, laughing, singing The church bells ringing Prayers are sent that we will return once again, Going back is one thing, The actual moments, Another. Now memories of the past, wishing time would rewind. Take me back. Our Family Vacation https://www.facebook.com/maeve.katcavage/videos/1072880652723396/?l=4322983015758083638
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Have you ever felt the need to rewind time, change the past, attempt to better your future? There is not a doubt in my mind that everyone has felt this at some point in their lives, I know for a fact I have. I could get sappy in this essay and talk about how crazy my life was when I was growing up, maybe how my father's gay or the time I first met my stepdad, but I think I'm going to stay simple and rewind to a few of my favorite memories, ones I made with my sisters, mom and Tom.
Glancing through the curtains eagerly awaiting our ride to the airport thinking to myself is the plane going to make it all the way to Amsterdam? This was one of the million questions floating through my brain. I gathered my suitcases, put on my ball cap and watched the sunrise that morning, as the clock ticked five we heard a knock on the door, it was John, A family friend ready to us to the international terminal in the airport. Our morning was full of Dunkin' coffee, munchkins, and good country music to sing along with. This was my family's first time in a plane together and my first time even seeing Philadelphia's airport. As we arrived I felt my stomach drop, my nerves kicked in, we quickly checked our belongings and headed to security. "Right this way mam" a woman dressed in a blue coat pointing me in the direction of metal detectors. "Passport and Boarding pass" as we all hand over our documentation one by one we step through the metal detectors. Beep, Beep, Beep, as I stepped through the detectors something must have been holding me back. Why me! Just my luck, what could I possibly have on that I would get called back for, was this some sort of joke. "Mam may I see your hands please", why in god's good name do these people need to see my hands, I have all ten fingers if that's what you need to count is what I was thinking to myself. "Swab kit to three" barked the butch woman, “swab me” I exclaimed, why what the heck is wrong with my hands, are they going to explode?! I thought. As the cold hand swab irritates my skin the rest of my family is standing on the other side of the line, practically laughing at me. For someone who has never been in an airport before, I was a little worried, “am I good to go” I said to the woman, she flagged me on to my family. And thus the start of my next three weeks began, at that butch woman and her irritating hand swab. Shortly after finding our gate number we boarded the plane. At this point I honestly did think I was about to die, Tom thought he booked tickets for an airbus, NOPE. The crowded rows of eager people squished next to strangers was nothing to worry about, right? We slowly but surely found our seats and unfortunately only three of them were together, the other three had to split up. Who knew seating arrangements were so hard to choose, the two youngest sat with my mom in the three row seat my older sister the row next to them, Tom upgraded to first class because of his "long legs" and I sat about three rows away from the rest of the girls next to an older man wearing a toupee. For the next Ten hours we were airborne, in the smallest plane that still flies internationally across the Sea. I’m not even kidding, it is legitimately the smallest plane that still flies internationally! After about an hour or two of sleep I woke up sweating, feeling the urge to cry, the air vents weren't enough in the heat of summer, I wanted off. I climbed over the sleeping toupee man and walked to the back of the plane where I struck up a conversation with a couple of the flight attendants. They were extremely nice, they shared stories about where they have traveled and gave me places to visit in Amsterdam where we were landing. After a long conversation and bathroom break I felt relieved I then strut back to my seat where I slept the remainder of the flight. As time progressed we began to approach our destination, the pilot spoke, passengers we are preparing for landing, take a seat fasten those belts and we should be in Amsterdam shortly. A half hour went by before I felt the ground, the lights clicked on and they began to unbolt the doors to let us out, we have arrived at our destination, not our final one though just the one that began our trip of a lifetime. As the flight attendants warned us, our bags did shift in the overhead bin during flight, we all stumbled through the cramped aisles attempting to grab our belongings. As we found our carry on bags we all sprinted off the plane like kids in a candy shop, this includes my mom and Tom. I pulled out my Cannon as soon as we stepped into the Amsterdam airport, it was amazing! We all waited by the ramp and people watched while waiting for Tom to finish the paperwork with the Hertz car rental people. As soon as the paperwork was finished we were off to the top of the parking garage where our chariot awaited. By chariot I mean our huge grey ford van, otherwise known as the outcast car of the EU. Not only did the air conditioning in the van seriously suck, the back windows didn’t even roll down! We loaded up and began our commute to the Art Hotel downtown Amsterdam, as we jolted down the highways we took in all the scenery around us, taking pictures of everything possible. The GPS that Tom programmed was directing us to the hotel, not that we needed it, we probably could’ve found our way there by following the smell of the mary jane. As we got closer I could see the large cow statues painted as supermen, in that moment I knew my vacation was going to rock. After finding a place to park our oversized vehicle we unloaded our bags and headed to check in. This was just the first stop on our adventure of a lifetime and I was fully ready for it. We each were handed a room key and had to choose what sisters wanted to room together I was with my youngest sister Connie. Our room was directly next to our older sister Fiona and my other younger sister Cecilia. We all freshened up changed and got ready for our first day in town, as my sisters knocked on our door I grabbed my floral bucket hat and we bolted down to the bar. This was where we met my mom and Tom for a quick drink before our bus ride to the main town. Loading on the bus was torture for the six of us considering no one spoke Dutch, we swiped our cards and off we went into the city of the bikes. The second we reached our stop and stepped off the safety of the bus we were dodging bikes left and right. All six of us made it to the cafe’ laughing uncontrollably at ourselves talking about how we were going to rent bikes as well and take them around town, so we did. The next day each of us got our own bike, hoping no one would get in a bike accident we rode off to have lunch and find the Harley Davidson store. Up and down the hilly bridges of amsterdam, connecting the land over the canals, having the time of our lives. The only person not smiling in this moment was my youngest sister Connie, only because she took a narley fall and was nearly trampled by regular riders. It was hilarious, to us at least! After a long day of fun my older sister Fiona and I went out on town to find ourselves some bars, and we did. We made it to one bar, just one out of the hundreds that lined the streets, after meeting a plethora of interesting people including a very obscure man, an apparent regular at the bar, that only knew the words “american girlies”. After meeting some awesome people from all over the world and sharing stories we trekked back to the hotel in preparation for a long ride to Berlin in the morning. We packed up our Amsterdam adventure and drove straight into Berlin, to meet our good friends Flemming and Elizabeth at the most beautiful hotel i’ve ever been to. We arrived to see the two of them sitting out on the patio waiting for us all with open arms, I knew that in this moment I never wanted this vacation to end. We strolled all throughout the amazing city, sightseeing pieces of the wall that was once built, checkpoint charlie and we even went to the coolest museums ever. In reality these places hit hard, I realized how good I have it and how wonderful our lives here in the USA were compared to the Germans in that time period. I am fortunate to have shared these moments with my amazing family.
Have you ever felt the need to rewind time, change the past, attempt to better your future? There is not a doubt in my mind that everyone has felt this at some point in their lives, I know for a fact I have. I could get sappy in this essay and talk about how crazy my life was when I was growing up, maybe how my fathers gay or the time I first met my stepdad, but I think I'm going to stay simple and rewind to a few of my favorite memories, ones I made with my sisters, mom and Tom.Glancing through the curtains eagerly awaiting our ride to the airport thinking to myself is the plane going to make it all the way to Amsterdam? This was one of the million questions floating through my brain. I gathered my suitcases, put on my ball cap and watched the sun rise that morning, as the clock ticked five we heard a knock on the door, it was John A family friend ready to us to the international terminal in the airport. Our morning was full of Dunkin' coffee, munchkins, and good country music to sing along with. This was my first time in a plane, this was my first time even seeing Philadelphia's airport. As we arrived I felt my stomach drop, my nerves kick in, "right this way mam" a woman dressed in a blue security coat pointing me in the direction of metal detectors. "Passport and Boarding pass" as we all hand over our documentation one by one we step through the metal detectors. Beep, Beep, Beep, SHIT, why me? Just my luck, what could I possibly have on that I would get called back for, was this some sort of joke. "Mam may I see your hands please", why in gods good name do these people need to see my hands, I have all ten fingers if that's what you need to count I was thinking to myself. "Swab kit to line three" barked the butch woman, swab me, why, how what the heck is wrong with my hands, are they going to explode?! I thought. As the cold hand swab irritates the skin the rest of my family is standing on the other side of the line, practically laughing at me. "CLEAR", for someone who has never been in an airport before, I was a little worried, am I good to go I said to the woman, she flagged me on to my family. And thus the start of my next three weeks began, at that butch woman. Shortly after finding our gate number we boarded the plane. At this point I honestly did think I was about to die, Tom thought he booked tickets for an airbus, NOPE. The crowded rows of eager people squished next to strangers was nothing to worry about, right? We slowly but surly found our seats and unfortunately only three of them were together, the other three had to split up. Who knew seating arrangements were so hard to choose, the two youngest sat with my mom in the three row seat my older sister the row next to them, Tom upgraded to first class because of his "long legs" and I sat about three rows away from the rest of the girls next to an older man wearing a toupee. For the next Ten hours we were airborne, in the smallest plane that still flies internationally across the Sea. After about an hour or two of sleep I woke up sweating, feeling the urge to cry, the air vents weren't enough in the heat of summer, I wanted off. I climbed over the sleeping toupee man and walked to the back of the plane where I striked up a conversation with a couple of the flight attendants. They were extremely nice, shared stories about where they traveled and gave me places to visit in Amsterdam where we were landing. After a long conversation and bathroom break I felt relived and made it back to my seat where I slept the remainder of the flight. As time progressed we began to approach our destination, the pilot spoke, passengers we are preparing for landing, take a seat fasten those belts and we should be in Amsterdam shortly. A half hour went by before I felt the ground, the lights clicked on and they began to unbolt the doors to let us out, we have arrived at our destination, not our final one though just the one that began our trip of a life time. |