Departure

 

I never had a liking towards the northwest. If fact, I had never been anywhere up into the northwest, but I knew that out of everyplace I wanted to go, it definitely would not have been the northwest.

 It was a warm, Monday morning in Leander Texas, as usual. And I was getting packed to hit the roads up to Oregon. I hated packing. Ever since my mom and dad had divorced, and we had to pack everything up and leave, it was one of the things on my non-existent “I hate” list. I opened my dresser and grabbed a huge wad of clothes and threw them into some old boxes, along with some pointless pictures and drawings that my friends and I had made over the years. I didn’t want to get rid of anything. There was too many memories, and I was too nostalgic to let them go.

            I threw a couple small boxes on a larger, beat up box and made my way downstairs. My dad was at his usual spot in the morning, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. I never understood why he liked reading the newspaper, it always seemed the same to me. Someone getting an award for something, news on what is happening in the world, and some old ads wanting someone to buy another person’s old mutt.

            “Hey Jess. Ready to take off?” My dad said, with the slightest bit of enthusiasm. He never liked it when I would see my mom every other Christmas, and I doubt he was much happier with me going up to Oregon to live there with her. I wanted a change, I wanted something new. I had gone 14 years of my life without a mom, and I know that now is the time to experience it, or I might never get out of my dad’s house.

            “yeah, just let me grab some food and a few boxes and I’ll be out.” I said, with the most obvious false smirk on my face. My dad got up and threw the old newspaper under his arm, grabbed his coffee and headed out the door. I grabbed a couple granola bars and headed back upstairs to grab a few boxes of clothes for the road trip there. My dad would be sending me the rest of my stuff once I had arrived there.

My dad’s car was waiting out in the front, I heard the roar of the old Volkswagen start up and I knew at any minute my dad would be storming in, asking me if I had gotten everything I needed. I grabbed a few small boxes and ran downstairs to see a small, green box sitting on the table. It certainly wasn’t there before. I walked over to the table and set down my much bigger boxes and grabbed the small one. The box was a hideous shade of green, and there was a small amount of writing on the right hand corner addressed Jess. I carefully opened it, not sure what to expect. There was a small diamond shaped dragonfly necklace that sparkled when I turned the box to get a better look at it. I put the lid back on it, grabbed the other boxes and ran to the door.

I threw my boxes into the back of the old beat up Volkswagen and hopped into the front seat to see my dad with the most ridiculous smile on his face. “Is this from you?” I pointed out, pulling the small green box out of my purse. “yeah, I wanted to get you something nice before you left” he said with a sincere and heartwarming smile. “But dad, we can’t afford these kinds of things!” He looked at me and smiled “I know, but this is it. After today you are no longer living with me, and I won’t have to spend the money on food for 2 anymore. So this all just works out, you see?” he laughed.  I shook my head, and decided not to argue with him, since in fact, I really didn’t want to leave on a bad note. “Thanks dad, it’s beautiful” I said sarcastically.

This was going to be a really long road trip. Full of pointless stories and tons of fast food stops. I grabbed a granola bar I had got from the house out of my purse, and took some small, slow bites, trying to savor every minute of it. Since for the next day and a half, I was going to be living off of hamburgers, grease, and fries.