I woke up sweating at 1:32 AM, desperate to go back to sleep. I was leaving for school in approximately six hours and still had some last minute packing and cleaning to do. It was roasting outside, which is rare for an August night in New Hampshire and my air conditioning had been preemptively turned off causing me to wake from the heat.
After rolling around, trying various blanket accommodations and positions, I finally felt comfortable enough to sleep until 6:20—when I had to rise to get to the airport.
I got out of bed, stumbled to my dresser to grab my toothbrush and walked into the bathroom to take my last shower at home for three months. My stepdad walked over about an hour later to do his “inspection” of my bedroom and bathroom to make sure that they were up to the proper standards. Then we were off.
The airport in Boston is just under two hours from my town on the lake in New Hampshire. As my stepdad and I drove to Boston-Logan I remember staring out the passenger side window, remembering to take in my last views of the mountains, something I did not take the time for when I left last year.
We arrive at the airport and check my bags. Unfortunately, my stepdad received TSA pre-check and I did not. I am stuck waiting in a security line for 45-minutes as my stepdad breezes through. After my torturous wait, we move to wait for our departure at 11:10a.m. We get called to board, get on the plane and are off.
When we arrive at Ronald Reagan National Airport, we immediately move to pick-up the three bags I checked (which in retrospect was unnecessary considering I had stored most of my things for the summer) in under 12-minutes of wait time. We grab an Uber to my dorm and the next few hours are spent in a haze of gathering packages and boxes to set up my home for the next several months.
My stepdad, never shy about his distaste for The District, leaves at 5:00p.m. to catch his 7:00p.m. turn around so he can be in bed by 10p.m. I stay, unpacking for an hour more until I admit defeat for the day and go to catch-up with my friends.
The rest of the night zooms by in a flash of happy reunions, dinner and an array of other events. I return to my dorm at 1:00a.m., incredibly happy to be in my new home and drift off to sleep.
