CHAPTER 8
The day arrived, where my cases stood in the hallway, ready and waiting to make this massive journey with me, it was me and my cases, all alone from the UK to the USA, a doddle for me really, as I am a pretty confident person, but to be quite honest, this was a little out of my comfort zone and when your purpose is surrounded by a child like crush, a loved up individual and wishing you were in a time machine that instantly placed you where you want to be NOW, it seemed to suppress the magnitude of what I was about to do.
Ok last checks, last look around, a rye smile, come on let’s do it……………..
My cases were loaded in the car, I took one last look at my business and said to myself, “see you in two weeks”. I started the car, slipped in to 1st gear and oh my goodness, my wing mirror had been smashed, smashed to the extent, I couldn’t leave, it was too damaged, I couldn’t see through it at all, “ you b…….”, why did you do this to me, I began to cry, hitting the steering wheel in sheer frustration, what was I to do, it was 3am in the morning, no one around to help me, I really was alone and had a plane to catch in 4 hours. I wiped the tears away as much as possible, trying to compose myself and to get a grip, enough to try and think what I could do next.
After a few minutes, I began to laugh, yes laughing out load, wiping the remaining tears from my face, it was so out of character for me, I felt a little insane, I mean, one minute I was crying, the next I was laughing, my wing mirror was smashed, it was 3am in the morning, deserted and my plane was leaving in four hours, oh utter joy lol……………
I got out of the car, went back in to the house, grabbed some pretty strong tape and frantically began to bound the damaged wing mirror, it was smashed and hanging on by a thread of cable, but you know what, I became a master of car repair that morning. I taped the mirror as best as I could, making sure it was safe and wouldn’t fall off, I had no mirror and it looked an utter mess, but I had no choice but to do what I did. I threw the tape in the boot, started the car and drove.
I knew I had lost thirty minutes on my journey but as I am the person I am, I always allow one hour extra just in case, a class one idiot decides to smash up my wing mirror at 3am in the morning, it worked, that extra hour became my saviour that day.
It seemed that moment of madness, was where I realised, that something so small for those few minutes, rocked my world to the extent, that I thought my plans had been stopped in their tracks, yet thinking about it now, there is a saying, “there is a lot to think about, but nothing to worry about” and to this day, that phrase stays with me, in all I do and another saying “what goes around, comes around”, so the person who smashed my wing mirror, shame on you and be mindful, what you sew will come back and bite you on the bum…..
My journey had already began and with the small blip at the beginning, didn’t deter me from what I was doing nor dampen the wonderful feelings I had inside, well it did for thirty minutes, but hey, what is thirty minutes…………..
My long journey from my front door to the airport and a six hour flight to JFK New York was a walk in the park, yes I was literally on cloud nine lol….I felt so happy. I hadn’t felt this happy in such a long time, I had forgot how this really felt, the feeling was of, exhilaration, fresh, crisp, vibrant, compelling and insanely addictive. The surprising fact was, that I had no nerves, not even a glimmer of concern, in fact it felt like a day at the office, business as usual, oh please forgive me, I mean, I was so casual about the whole situation, perhaps it was because, I felt I knew Elly already, after all, we had spoken for hours, which converted in to days, then months, it was as though I already had a friendship, that was established, a bond only a few can experience in such unusual circumstances and this I felt, secured my trust and situated me in a good place. Oh basically, I was deep down, excited but certainly not daunted or concerned, as meeting Elly for the first time, was going to be a wonderful.
I arrived at JFK New York, feeling like a small fish in a huge pond, sorry to use a small pun, but I was surrounded by a mass of bodies, pushing politely through to get my luggage, phew, I saw my rainbow strap, still wrapped around my suitcase, a quick snatch of the handle, oh my, I’ve got it, now where do I go, ok follow the rest and hope I don’t end up on a flight back to the UK….
I followed the crowd and it was rather a large crowd, it was the biggest airport I had ever been to, I didn’t feel intimidated, I simply became one of the mass of people, wanting to get through passport control. This was, may I add, certainly different from back home, your in line, well that’s like home, you are called by a man in uniform with a gun strapped to his hip, that’s not like home, where he directs you to the next available uniformed man, with a gun strapped to his hip, who then says “passport mam”, I passed my passport over, where he looks intently at my passport then at me, may I say, my passport photo looked a little scary, with the dark mascara eyes and a hairdo which was much to be desired. Oh I forgot this is serious, so serious, that the guy paused with my passport in his hands, I thought, oh my goodness, what the hell have I done, for a split second, I did feel singled out, but bless his cotton socks he said, with a small soft smile, “your English, thank you mam, welcome to New York”, I smiled and replied “thank you very much, I will”. I got through, yippee, I survived JFK lol.
I pulled my luggage behind me thinking, what a lovely man but I wish he didn’t have that gun strapped to his hip, nice holster though……
Back to the moment, a moment that joking aside, I had been longing so much for and I was about to see Elly for the first time and actually be able to touch her, hold her and look in to her beautiful brown eyes.
I saw the arrivals, HUGE double doors, they were so big, my new name is Bridget the Midget, I can honestly say, the doors were the biggest I ever seen, people have said, everything in America is big and it is a fact, they are. I got closer to the doors and to my surprise, they opened automatically, but so slow, it was a moment, I can only imagine a superstar experiences, when they come onto stage, a per nerves entrance and the stage opens up and you are exposed to 100’s of people, where you can’t see them individually but know they can see you.
I casually looked from left to right, in front of me and I couldn’t see Elly, I knew in my heart she was there but I couldn’t see her. I searched again and again, stopping to focus, hoping I could spot a Latin, long haired, beautiful woman. I put my head down for a second as people were, crowding around me, my luggage taking a slight battering, they too had people to meet, not my luggage, I mean the people and in all of this wonderful chaos, I lifted my head and to the side of me, I saw an opening, where there was a ramp leading to the exit door, at the top of the ramp, I caught a glimpse of who I thought to be Elly. I slowly maneuvered myself and luggage away from the masses of people, there was a clear path for me to walk towards this woman. I could see as I got closer, a woman in jeans and jumper, with tied back dark hair. At this stage my mind went blank, everything around me was so unimportant, I stopped again and I could see Elly, with one simple action, Elly smiled, she began to walk towards me, she was still smiling, my face on the other hand must have been worth a picture, I was stunned, so stunned, I didn’t move, you know the running towards each other and embracing the other the person, well it didn’t happen. In fact, Elly walked straight at me within inches of me, I was lost for words and then exhaled in to a cascade of tears. Elly wrapped her arms around me, I literally sobbed with sheer joy. Elly instantly held me so tight and I too held Elly, it seemed time did stand still, the hustle and bustle of this world renowned airport, didn’t exist. Elly knew that my tears were, of joy and happiness, a flood of so many emotions rose to the forefront for me, it was such a special moment for me and it seemed for Elly.
Elly was the first, to slowly pull away from our embrace, stroking the back of my head, kissing me on the cheek, then saying, “hi lady Shar”, then smiled from ear to ear. Lady Shar was a nick name she always used for me, you know the British stiff upper lip class thing and of course, with tongue in cheek, I was a lady lol……
I replied “hi, you are so beautiful, oh… and I’m sorry for my emotional entrance”, we both laughed hysterically, realising now, that we were in the middle of JFK and we had to make our exit, before we were handcuffed and arrested.
The walk to the car was like a pair of love sick kids, who even in our 40’s, still had the capacity to act so innocent and coy, the sneaky glances, the Cheshire cat grins, a small chuckle to acknowledge deep down, we were both so excited and elated to see each other.
I couldn’t believe my journey to this very moment and yet, it was as though I had always been here, Elly made me feel so special, she was attentive towards me but I also knew she was very nervous. My luggage was in the car, we shut the doors and Elly looked at me and said “your eyes, they are gorgeous”, I smiled and said “thank you, now lets go, I’m excited”.
Elly laughed as I did too, Elly started the car and we left one of the most famous, busiest and somewhat huge airport behind, where I couldn’t wait to spend the time I had, with Elly.
Our cheeky grins and short glances were, an ecstatic burst of human excitement, I felt compelled to jump over to Elly and smother her with hugs and kisses, to hold her and smell her, it was a somewhat irrational urge I had at this very moment, but I knew it certainly wasn’t appropriate, even though I desperately wanted to. Her very presence in such a confined space, in this moment in time, sent me to a place, where I really couldn’t imagine, I felt so happy to be next to Elly at long last.
I had no idea how long the journey would take and really I didn’t care, as my time with Elly was precious and an opportunity to savour every moment with her. Elly drove away from New York City, which may I say, is one of the largest cities in the world, I felt quite proud of myself, to travel such a long way, in to one of the most famous cities in the world, to meet someone I had never met before. You know what, I really didn’t place much emphasis on my accomplishment, as the actual being there with Elly, erased any apprehension or nerves I may have had.
We drove for about thirty minutes, through traffic and towns, swarming with people, but to be honest, I really wasn’t taking too much notice, as thoughts of Elly and the time ahead I had to spend with her, seemed to take priority in my head. I had no expectations of the days ahead nor visions of my surroundings, but I did wonder how we would become closer physically. Please don’t think that was the only thing on my mind, as I can assure you it really wasn’t.
Our occasional smiles were indicating acknowledgment of each other amongst many other thoughts, the only words spoken in the thirty minute drive were, “are you ok”, “yes I’m fine, I’m so fine”, “I am so happy you are here”, “me too”, “where are you taking me”, “mmmmmm wait patiently”, “oh you tease” and then a warm and endearing smile.
Elly pulled in, an off road area, which was a viewing point, in actual fact, it really was one hell of a view point. The scenery was spectacular, in front of me was New York City at it’s best, the car facing this panoramic experience, right in front of my eyes. Elly said, “what do you think”, I replied, “breathtaking”.
We sat in the car, both with a comfortable silence, I felt in an odd way, I was home, where did this come from, I guess I felt secure, comfortable and content. I thought I was the forthright person, but on this occasion, Elly slowly leaned towards me and kissed my cheek and said, “I am so happy you are here with me”, I smiled and replied, “So am I, I have waited a life time for this moment”, I turned and looked at Elly, the closest I had ever been and I began slowly kissing her, touching her soft face, holding the back of her head gently and kissing her so much I didn’t want it to end. We slowly pulled away and smiled, along with a bow of the head, like a pair of embarrassed kids, but it was fine. The whole moment was ours to keep and this alone, was enough to indicate the beginning of a wonderful relationship.
It’s strange, from that moment on, our connection became a natural flow of understanding, a joining of two people without the awkward silences and inappropriate suggestions, basically, it was as though we had always been together, well that is how I felt anyway, Elly gave me no reason to think she didn’t feel the same way.
As we drove further out of New York city, it was a pleasant surprise, some people think of New York as a huge city, full of hustle bustle, steaming sewer grids, sirens and swarming with people, well your right, but outside of New York city, still within New York, sorry, yes I’m still in New York……it’s like “Star Gate“, you step in to another world, surrounded by beautiful countryside, calmer and picturesque parts of the state, where people have a choice to opt for the quieter life. It was like the UK, London is go go go, yet it has borough’s, where you can avoid the noise of a faster way of living. It certainly was a far cry from what I expected, well what I mean is, from what I had seen on the television and magazines. You know what they say, seeing is believing.
We pulled in to a trailer park, in the UK is what’s known as a caravan park, pretty with a curved drive through and best of all, set beside the Hudson river, oh my life, I was in ore of the location. I felt so privileged, to be a part of the whole situation, to meet a wonderful woman, to fly to New York, be greeted at JFK airport, experience such happiness and then faced with such a fantastic location. As Elly pulled in to her parking lot beside her trailer, we faced the Hudson river, I took a sharp intake of breathe in total amazement. Elly said, “are you ok” rubbing my leg, I replied, “yes, I am absolutely fine, thank you”. Elly got out of the car, smiling with what seemed to be, relief and happiness.
Elly was right to feel this, as I too, could not ask for anything more.
From the moment we loaded my bags in to the trailer, we seemed to be on our way to becoming, not only great friends, but also two people who could spend a long time together, two women who could experience the true meaning of love and respect for each other, developing each day, to heal the recent scars, we both had recently shared.