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The Summer I Went to Oklahoma

It was mid June or July when I arrived at the busy, loud, claustrophobic airport. I was very unenthusiastic and it was very obvious because my mom asked, “ What’s wrong?” I replied with “ I’m just very tired.”  Inside my head I was holding a full conversation with myself because my thoughts were ticking. I don’t want to go to this place. It’s probably just full of fields and old country roads like all other country states are. I kept swerving through the crowd with everybody going different ways to keep up with my family. I finally caught up once we got to our gate to wait for our flight. While we were waiting I decided to text and call my friends because I wouldn’t be able to on the plane. I was happy on the outside and scared on the inside. Why was I scared on the inside? I was scared for a lot of reasons. First, I wouldn’t be able to sit next to my family because all of the three seats were taken in every aisle. Second, I didn’t know who I was sitting next to and hopefully it wasn’t a strange person. Third, I hate when we go up in the air very fast because it makes my ears hurt very badly.

It was finally time. My heart was beating fast and a part of me wanted to cry. I had just said goodbye to my friends for the summer and I didn’t think it was going to be a good trip. I was walking slowly on the plane mentally preparing myself for who I was about to sit next to and the pain my ears were about to get. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we started the safety rules and then we took off. The flight was 3 hours long and I had to stay up. Staying awake would’ve been very hard because it was very dark, comfortable, and a beautiful afternoon . I have to stay awake. WAKE UP NADIA! My thoughts were running through my head. Every 30 seconds I felt like I yawned. Then it happened. I fell asleep. It was a peaceful nap because I was listening to meditation music on full blast. I woke up to the loud sound of my music and the drowned out announcements from the pilot. “We have made it into Chicago, Illinois . Enjoy the beautiful sights of Chicago.” I started meditating and then realized that my ears weren’t hurting. A few moments later I had a bit of a disturbance. I got slammed into the chair in front me because the pilot didn’t slow down when he was landing. 

I’d finally got out of the plane and found a place to sit and I went back to sleep because we had a 3 hour layover. I laid there for 15 minutes trying to go to sleep and I couldn’t. I started scrolling on my phone not knowing what I was trying to do. I finally decided to put my phone away and start reading. I was reading a book called Ghost. In my opinion, Ghost is a really good book and I would rate it 9/10. I rated it 9/10 because it ends on a cliffhanger. Anyway, my family and I went to the food court. It’s a very small food court with not many choices but we’ve been there so many times that we know what tastes the best and exactly what to order. First, we went to our favorite popcorn place Nuts on Clark. Next, we went to a really good Irish restaurant called Reilly’s Daughter. My mom and I ordered the Irish fish and chips which was AMAZING with all caps. My dad ordered some sandwich with pickles, tomatoes, cheese , and fish on it. I would most definitely recommend this restaurant anytime you visit Chicago. After we ate we went to our gate and waited until our flight. 4 hours later, the receptionist finally announced that our plane was here. 

The sun was setting and I was enjoying my book Ghost while listening to relaxing music. The sun got lower by the second it seemed like and I was very disappointed because the sun was my source of light. About 10 minutes later the sun finally set and I turned on my airplane light. I was almost done with the book as I felt my eyes get heavier. I really wanted to finish the book but it was late at night and I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before. I decided to just close my eyes and not go to sleep. I woke up again to the sound of the pilot telling us that we had 20 more minutes left. I yawned to pop my ears and went back to sleep. I woke up to the feeling of someone tapping my shoulder and heard a lot of commotion in the background. I gathered all of my stuff and  drowsily walked out of the airplane. I walked out of the gloomy gray tunnel to see a really colorful and quiet airport. I was astonished. I walked through the tunnels that had doors that only let one person walk in at a time. I walked through the exit to feel a nice humid and cool breeze. My family and I walked to the rental car building to get our car. We walked up to the building to see a beautiful welcome to Oklahoma sign and really pretty ombré rainbow colored doors. I really expected to have the inside be ombré  but it wasn’t. I was very disappointed but amazed at the same time. We went to the desk to ask for the key to the car but we ran into a lot of computer problems. It was 1am and we were all tired. Some of my weariness went away once I started moving again. We eventually got the key after 30 minutes of computer problems. My family and I went outside to find our car. We went to the exact spot the slip of paper said to go to but the car wasn’t there. We checked every spot and still couldn’t find it. After 15 minutes of searching we finally found it. It was very small but big enough to fit all of our luggage in it. I tried to go back to sleep after we got settled and started driving but my mom kept me awake. 

My uncle David, who is the reason why we came up here, said that the hotel he booked was very nice. We got to the hotel in about 5 minutes and in my opinion it was anything but nice. First, there were too many bugs and moths flying around to the point where we couldn’t even get in the hotel without any bugs getting in. Second, the receptionist had extremely bad attitudes. Third, the room wasn’t that clean and I felt really uncomfortable about eating my waffles I had in there. Lastly, the room name wasn’t even in my parents! My mom is very picky so she went to the front desk to check out of the room. My dad and I stayed in the room and ate our waffles. My mom gave us the signal that it was time to leave so we packed our bags back up and drove cue into the city. We went to the other hotel and it was extremely chaotic. The police were out in the middle of the street, there were creepy people walking around, and there was a crowd of people coming from somewhere. Let me remind you that it is now 2am in the morning. My mom decided to get out of the car and walk to the hotel. She went in the hotel for about 5 minutes and decided that she liked that hotel. We checked in and I got ready for bed because the next day was a very busy day.

It was 10am when we woke up we packed up and got ready to go to another hotel later. We drove around and got waffles again because none of the breakfast places had good ratings except iHop. After we ate we went to get some black shorts because I left them at home. When we got to the store the police were at Panda Express. I was scared and interested at the same time. I was scared because the police had their guns pulled but I was interested because it was like a real life movie. We got the shorts and then we drove to the party. On the way to the party I was drawing an eye. When we entered the neighborhood the party was in, I was amazed. The neighborhood was full of extremely big houses. I saw my dream house. It was very modern with a pool in the backyard. It wasn’t a pentagon shape though. It was cubed but almost every section of the house had its own cube. After driving through the neighborhood for a few minutes we saw the clubhouse. The clubhouse was very vast in size and looked like a hotel. We parked down the street and walked to the clubhouse. Once I got in the clubhouse I was very excited because in a few minutes I got to see my grandpa. I hadn’t seen my grandpa or my aunt in 3 years! Then I smelt very strong cologne to turn around to see an old man that looked just like my grandpa. If I’m being honest I didn’t really like the smell but I missed it very much. I ran to give my grandpa and my aunt a hug. My grandpa walked my parents and I to the ballroom we rented. I walked in the room to see a big room with a dance floor, a photo booth, and a bunch of extended family and friends that I did not know. My grandpa introduced me to my cousins  Dionne, Desiree,  and Deanthony. My cousin Dionne and I explored the place and took a lot of Hershey Kisses from the stand.

My parents and I went to check into the new hotel. When we got there it was surrounded by nice restaurants and museums. We parked on the curb of the hotel and there was this guy named Jason who opened the door for us. Jason was really nice and had lots of manners. Jason walked us to our hotel room and carried our luggage for us. We tipped Jason before we changed to go to my cousin’s house. It was almost dark and my cousins lived in the country. We met Jason on the way out of the hotel and he opened the door for all of us. We put the GPS on and started driving to my cousin’s house. I took a nap on the way to the house and when I woke up it was beautiful. It was another house of my dreams except this one wasn’t cubed. I walked up the long driveway to meet a tiny green frog at the door. I named it Bob Billy Joe. I went upstairs after greeting everybody to hang out with my cousins. I caught up on the latest drama in my cousin Dionne’s life and watched a movie with her. An hour later, my parents called me downstairs and told me that it was time to go. I was sad because I didn’t want to leave but I was happy at the same time. I walked back down the long driveway then stopped. I looked up to see a full sky of stars. That’s so beautiful I thought and then resumed walking and got in the car. We were driving back down the dark and scary roads when we came across a coyote. I have never in my 11 years of life seen a coyote in person. 

We got back to the hotel and Jason opened the door for us , walked us to our room, and we tipped him again. The next morning we woke up, got dressed, and went to my cousin David’s house. On the way to his house we turned to see a road full of red dirt. My dad turned the way the GPS was taking him and we flew over the hill. We landed safely but we didn’t know where we were. After about 40 minutes of driving around we eventually got to his house. He showed us around his house and told us about the art he does which was amazing and his school he teaches at. I showed him some of my art and he thought that it was amazing. Next he showed us around the other houses he owns and one of the old things our great great grandpa use to own. He showed us the Threatt Filling Station which was a place people could go when they were escaping from slavery or just traveling. After we left we went to have dinner with my family (cousins, aunts, etc.) I got a vegan burger which  was good but had a bad aftertaste. We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I was very sad because I don’t go up there a lot.

It was 4am in the morning when we were outside in the cool breeze returning the car.. My parents and I got through security and got on the airplane. I put on my headphones and listened to music. I felt like a new person. I was being myself in front of people I didn’t know which wasn’t common for me. I felt happy. One of the times I’ve been my happiest. Now this is a good lesson for me about don’t judge a book by its cover. That was my summer in Oklahoma.