New Family

Wednesday morning my alarm went off at 0630. I woke up, ready to go. I got everything prepared, suitcase and backpack, and sat down in my chair. I was to meet my soon to be sister in law's family.

I left the dorm and headed for the Marta station. Apparently, system was off, because the trains were having to share railways. This caused about a 20 minute delay, which could've been bad. However, I had timed in so I would arrive an hour and a half early anyways. Our train finally left North Avenue station southbound to the airport. I could feel my heart beating as my nervousness grew. Would they like me? Would I get along?

I arrived at the airport, and having never been there before, almost got lost. Luckily, the kind airport employees directed me in the correct direction. I checked my bag and headed for the terminal. When I arrived there, everything was fine. However, as time went by, things got bad. First, my plane arrived late, then one of the flight attendants didn't show up. I ended up having an hour and a half delay. By the time the plane began to back out of the terminal, my flight time had changed from 0930 to 1100.

When I finally arrived in Virginia, my brother was waiting for me at the baggage claim. He, of course, was a little mad about the delay. But it was alright, he was just giving me a hard time.

It was another hour drive back to my brother's fiance, Mary,'s house, where we were staying. There I met Mary's sister, mother, father, and daughter, my soon to be niece.

I loved the time I was able to spend with her family. We played apples to apples the first night I was there, and I learned so much about all of them. It was a great time and I'm so glad I was able to spend it with them.

For Thanksgiving, we went out to her father's, Col. Flanagan's, parents house, where I was able to meet more of their family. One of Col. Flanagan's brothers, and his wife and children. For dinner we had turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and more. It was all so delicious! Then came the dessert! There were cupcakes (basically cake but cut up into cupcakes. These things were huge!), apple pie, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. All of the food was so good, so much better than anything I had had here.

For the rest of my time in Virginia I watched TV and movies with the family. Mary's family took me in as one of their own, and I am so grateful.

It all ended with my flight back to Atlanta. It went much better than the one to Virginia. No delays and everyone showed up. So now I'm back in Atlanta for finals. I'm really looking forward to the next time I get to see Mary's family, which will more than likely be at Jon and Mary's wedding, but I may get to see them for spring break!