This summer is dragging on.

I remember being in elementary school and having summers that felt like they were centuries long.  As the years progressed, summers felt shorter and I desperately wanted to have more days off from school.  This summer, it feels like how it used to feel when I was smaller.

I've been doing a few things different lately.  It's unusual for me to go to my grandma Nieves' house in Sullivan City when my parents go because I normally want to stay home and spend time doing silly things. Normally,  I don't go outside often in mid-afternoon to sit with my mom while she is watering the plants.  But two days ago, after forcing myself to go to my grandma Nieves' place because I wanted to come home to talk to Toshi, I ended up staying over and spending the night next door at my cousin's house.  Believe me, I love my family to death as it is but I feel like now I'm starting to appreciate the time I have with them more than ever.

Since I opened a bank account today with $525 dollars, I bought my plane ticket to Boston.  I was initially going to go on the same flight with Rhed and Kwan, two guys from California who I would've met up with on my connected flight in the Dallas/ Fort Worth airport to Boston, but today I couldn't find their flight and figured that there was no plane leaving McAllen that day that would get me there in time for the 12:30 connected flight.  Therefore, I was happy to ask Carlos about his flight time. Now it seems that I will be leaving for Boston with him in the Dallas/Fort Worth flight and sitting right next to him.

There are quite a bit of things I must do this summer before I leave and I have been slowly but surely keeping on track with all the forms that must be completed.   The only thing that sucks is that I still haven't gotten my Meningitis immunization and I'm certainly not excited for it.  It's a bit moronic of me to be afraid of little immunization needles when I've gotten several piercings (all diy) and my ears are stretched but I just hate for other people to touch me with sharp and pointy things.  

Right now, I'm not bored of my life.  I have enough worries, stress, anxiety, uncertainty, housework, family issues, and even excitement to keep me occupied.  However, I'm ready to see another part of this world for once.

The oh-so-sheltered-by-this-almost-all-Hispanic-society,

Dina Starr

Graduation, party, and balloons sailing into the vast sky.

I still haven't started my placement exam due to the graduation events that came up this week.  I didn't think I would even be slightly fazed on graduation night but what moved me was that after bitterness between two people for two years, I gave them both written notes about how I felt.  If it were the old me, I probably wouldn't have bothered trying to stay on good terms with those people, much less give them cards with kind and sincere words.  But something made me want to make peace.  It's like my warrior spirit was smothered and out came this mini Mother Teresa...ok I'll never be that good.  You catch my drift?

So what ended up happening graduation night was the end of this silent ongoing battle between two people and me.  This battle ended so well that we hugged and I cried like a fool afterwards.  At that moment, I felt my soul was cleansed.  At 1:00 a.m, i lied awake in my bed thinking of the events.  For once, I wasn't an asshole who just sought revenge against those who disliked me.   With some initial discomfort, I did what I think was the best choice I could've made and I'm pleasantly surprised at myself.

Friday night, I had my graduation party at my house.  My godmother did such an amazing job putting everything together from putting cute decorations, cooking awesome food, and giving me all sorts of nice keepsakes.  I felt a lot of love from everyone that night.  Most of my Odyssey of the Mind team was there and we reminisced about our amazing season.  Andrea was such a good sport dancing with my cousins all night and I was surprised to see someone there:  Sang.

During my junior year, Sang and I talked all the time and I felt a really strong connection with him.  I really liked him but during the last two months of the 2009-2010 school year, something happened that our relationship kinda became cold.  After he graduated, I didn't see him at all until the day of my party, where he showed up with these beautiful flowers for me.  I was so pleased that he had come because it was the first time I had seen him in a year and I missed him.  My stomach hurt all night and I at first thought I was just nervous to be with Sang or something ridiculous like that but it turned out to be my period...great huh?  We sat together and spoke to each other the whole time.  He was so kind about my bossy ways and accompanied me everywhere I went.  I appreciated it so much and that night really made me think about him a lot today.

At noon on Saturday, there was a bouquet of about 12 balloons from the party just hanging out in my dining room.  "Go outside and let them go", my mom said.  So I untied the strings from the chair and went outside.  With the balloons in my hand, I remembered the times I was 7 years old and I liked to imagine that one day I could fly up into the air if I collected enough balloons to lift me up.  The wind was raging and suddenly I was scared.

 I didn't want to let go of the balloons.  No, it's not that I thought they were too awesome to be let go but some fear just overcame me.  "Let them go," my mom insisted.  "All together?"  I asked stupidly.  "No" she responded.  "One at a time.  Make a wish before you let the wind take them away."  I made a wish and slowly released my grasp on one of the strings.  One at a time, I let them rise into the air and felt a sense of emptiness.  The day of my own departure is coming soon and I have to make the best of this summer.

"Look at that black and silver balloon," my mom gasped. "I can still see it rising up in the clouds. "  It was true.  One of the balloons I had let go first was continuing on in its  ascendence.  I kept my eyes on the little moving speck till my eyes could no longer stand the intensity of the sun.

"Dina," my mom said.  "Like the balloon, you will reach great heights."

Sitting silently in my room,

Dina Starr