During fall break I decided it was finally time for me to reunite with my biological mom after not seeing her for about 13 years. It was the perfect time because of other at home situations that were going on. I have been dreaming about what it would be like to be with my mom for years, when I was little i’d fall asleep to The Princess Diaries, and pretend my mom was a lost queen.

When my mother bought the plane ticket it didn’t really occur to me that this was happening, that this was actually happening and not a dream and that I’d be flying alone all the way to Portland Oregon. I was excited but I was also super nervous. I had been talking to my mom over Facebook messenger for about 3 years, and it feels super natural to text her, but talking to her face to face felt like it was going to be a problem because of my social anxiety.

The weekend before fall break I spent with my friends trying just to hang out and chill before all the excitement nervousness began, I think he was a little nervous for me too, but he didn’t show it. On Tuesday Night, my pal Hera came and spent the night because she had to take me to the airport the next day. It was super relaxing to have someone I trust so much be there to help me shove a week worth of outfits into a tiny backpack. When she took me to the airport Wednesday morning, I was basically trying not to have a panic attack. I’m scared of planes and i’m even more scared of leaving home, but I knew it was too late to turn back. The airport itself wasn’t that bad, it was super easy to check in and find my gate for my flight.

My flight had a layover and I had to go to Denver Colorado first, that’s when I started to calm down, but it still didn’t really feel real though. My seat was in the middle and next to me was this super nice lady of who I made friends with and talked to for two hours. When I got to Colorado I was getting hungry and tried to find food, I wanted these pretzel bites but the place was out of them. I was denied delicious pretzels. When I got on my flight to Oregon, I swear it was the longest hour of my life.

When I landed in Portland everything became very real for me and I had to try and keep myself from bursting out in tears, which didn’t last long. I would of gotten lost in the PDX airport if it wasn’t for this big exit sign. I saw a lady with pink hair and she ran to me, that was my mother. We hugged and made a low key scene in the middle of the airport. I didn’t want to let go of her, I was having the best hug of my life. We eventually stopped out scene and decided to get out of the airport. My mom drives a mustang, hates driving in Portland, and that’s all I could really focus on at that moment, besides the tons of red and golden leafs on the trees. I had never seen trees that beautiful before.

The ride to my mom’s house, was a lot of her talking, me saying “yeah” and trying to talk and not stutter. Also most of it was just be staring at trees because I was captivated by them, and she thought it was the funniest thing. When we got to her house it was in the middle of nowhere and really far up. It was a cute little green house in the middle of all these big beautiful green trees, the inside of it felt warm and cozy, minus the fact she has a room full of tarantulas. They’re in little tanks though, so it’s not like I was gonna get attacked or anything. My favorite little creatures in the spooky room are these 2 little lizards, Cookie Monster and Lucy, who are actual angels incase you were wondering.

I have never made myself at home in a strange place so quickly, but my mom’s house didn’t really seem like a strange place, it felt natural. When I met her husband, I got super nervous because i’m not super comfortable around men at all, but he just kept chatting away and I just kept nodding and trying to reply without stuttering. Everyone I met down in Oregon was super nice.

The second day I was in Oregon, my mom took me to Halloween Town, like the actual place that the movie was filmed. I was super excited because that movie made up part of my childhood, I used to sit with my grandma and watch it 24/7. I was so excited the first thing I saw was the Physic Taxi that Benny the Skeleton drove, they actually even had him in the taxi. I got to see city hall and the great pumpkin where Marnie had to drop this thing in order to save Halloween town. It was amazing and I couldn’t believe that I was actually there.

Throughout the week I was there we did tons of things, we visited Astoria, got a chameleon, went to a haunted house, went to see a active volcano and visited the zoo, it wasn’t just about going and doing stuff though, it was doing with my mom. It was amazing to spend real time with her after all the years of not seeing her. It was incredible to learn about her and about what her life is like in Oregon.

When the week was almost over I started getting really sad because I started missing everybody back home in Indiana. I didn’t exactly want to leave Oregon, but I knew I had to go back home. Even though i’ll always have a home there, Indiana is where i’m happy at for now, it’s where my friends are, it’s where my focuses are, but I can’t wait to go visit Oregon again soon.