I had flown the 3000 mile trip from Logan International Airport to LAX tons of times before that day, but I didn't remember ever having been that nervous. I didn't remember feeling so squished in a first class seat. I didn't remember having to remind myself to breathe deeply that many times.
I didn't remember sitting up so strait in the seat because I was so nervous. I didn't remember trying to force myself to fall asleep so that I would forget the sheer absolute horror that was encircling me.
I didn't ever remember ever thinking so much about what somebody was going to think of me. I didn't know if it was because I was going to meet somebody who I was going to live with for another year until I went to college, or if it was because I was meeting people who were technically in my family and I just hadn't ever met them. Either way, I was utterly terrified.
My hands were sweating; I wiped them on my Diane von Furstenburg that was from Bergdorf Goodman and cost $365. That was one of my cheapest articles of clothing. My $3,925 diamond and platinum ring from Tiffany's was falling off from the extra moisture.
The flight attendant finally announced that we were about to land and asked us to put our seats up and to put our trays in the upright and locked positions. I didn't have to bother with either, the chair was already upright from my terror and I was so sick from the butterflies that I didn't eat or drink anything in the five and a half hours that I was on the plane.
A half of an hour later the plane landed. I waited for the hustling and bustling crowd to pass me before I gathered my belongings. I grabbed my Louis Vuitton laptop bag that contained my Macbook Pro and began to walk through the gate into the terminal.
If you've ever been to LAX you know that trying to find somebody is incredibly difficult. When you have no idea who you're looking for, it's a needle in the haystack.
I did know though that by the time that I grabbed all of my bags most of the people on the same plane as me would have cleared out because I had so many more bags than they did. How hard was it to find a seventeen year old girl wearing a navy blue dress?
I shipped most of my furniture, but I refused to ship six Louis Vuitton bags. I wasn't going to happen.
When most people cleared out and I had grabbed all of my bags, one family was left standing at the baggage claim. Since Daddy told me that my mother and her replacement husband only had two replacement kids I didn't know if that family was the one I was looking for, because they had two adults and five children.
One girl from the family of seven came bounding over to me as I grabbed the last bag from the assembly line. "Are you Bella?" She asked in a cheerful tone. This was going to be hell. So they're beautiful and they're happy.
"Yes. I'm Bella." I told her.
"I thought so. I'm Alice, your new half-sister. Well, I suppose I've been your sister for a while, so new to you, I guess. Is that a Dolce and Gabbana bag?" She asked me with a smile on her face. She was motioning to my purse.
"Yes. It is." I said with an almost smile on my face.
"Well, if you were smart enough to buy that I can tell that we're going to be great friends." She may have been too perky and pixie like and smiley, but I kind of liked her.
"Let me help you with those bags. Why didn't you just ship all of these? You have seven bags."
"I'm not shipping my Louis. It's not going to happen!" She just laughed at my over protectiveness. "I did ship my two cars though."
"So you'll ship two really nice cars but you won't ship 7 Louis Vuitton bags?" I thought that she was questioning my logic, but then she said, "You are a smart woman." I laughed. She grabbed a few of my luggage bags and we walked over to where my new family and a few unknown people we standing.