And they were off.
I prayed.
I’ll miss them.
They were going to be late.
“I don’t like this.”
“I’ll talk to you soon!”
I hugged one, then I hugged the other.
We pulled up to the terminal.
We listened to Ingrid Michaelson.
Nervous and hyper.
We seemed nervous and hyper in the car.
This took way too long. We might be late.
I pulled into a gas station to fill up.
We left right at 4:30am.
We got ready.
I warmed up the car. It was 43 degrees outside.
We got to bed late. I don’t know if we actually slept.
It’s not goodbye. I cried.
We ate our cake.
We wrestled. I didn’t win.
We headed back to the apartment.
My brother hugged me and transferred all his fidgeting to me.
My brother and I told childhood stories for my friends.
My brother fidgeted.
My brother told a story about necrophilic bacteria.
We ate at Biscotti’s. We ordered cake to go.
We watched Notting Hill.
I’ll miss them.
I told stories.
We drove to my old high school; my junior high; my old neighborhood.
We ate lunch at mom’s. Lumpia and pancit.
Instead of going to Sunday School.
We talked in the mothers’ lounge with one of my friends 
After the meeting, Mom found us. She apologized for … something.
We uncomfortably sat through most of sacrament meeting.
My heroes.
I made them attend 9:00am church with me.
We stayed up late.
We unloaded the car where I’d be staying.
We ate at Chili’s.
We visited Mom briefly. Mom explored social boundaries.
We arrived in Florida.
They wondered at Spanish moss.
It was cloudy and cold.
We walked around Savannah.
We almost missed seeing the Georgia state border sign.
I’ll miss them.
We ate at Sonic for a late lunch.
We skipped going to Myrtle Beach so we wouldn’t get to Florida too late.
We got stuck on the I-285 loop around Charlotte for an hour.
We ate a cute place called Le Peep for breakfast.
Waking up was fun. Being a morning person has its perks.
We got to bed late.
We tried making friends with a cat. Most of us.
We caught up with an old friend who let us stay the night.
We arrived in Charlotte after midnight.
(There were 12 of them, then 16? then 18?)
Then we picked up some medium-mini powdered donuts.
(some of us for the first time, and then just before it closed at 10pm)
Two hours north of Charlotte, we ate at Chick-Fil-A.
Traffic lightened up after 6pm.
And restrooms are  a part of covert ops.
We stopped at two Quantico 7-11s, where prices for drinks are classified, apparently.
Traffic barely moved for three hours.
No tax.
We then had Arby’s then Dairy Queen blizzards.
We got lost in a mall in Delaware before finding the food court.
We stayed on the turnpike way too long.
It rained.
My city.
I couldn’t look back.
I’ll miss them.
We prayed.
We were off.