Love In Unexpected Places ✓

Chapter One

"Traveling-It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." -IBN Battuta

Have you ever wanted something so much that just the thought of making it a reality seemed too far out of reach? That's exactly how my mother felt.

My parents fell in love at the tender age of fifteen. They were childhood sweethearts. When they turned twenty, they decided they couldn't wait any longer to tie the knot. They knew that their love was a special love. A love pure and rare and a kind of love one would only dream about. They weren't quite out of college when they got married. They felt that as long as they had each other they could conquer the world. They soon dropped out of college altogether and my father got a job at a warehouse loading products onto trucks. The pay wasn't terrible, but it wasn't enough to take a nice trip for their honeymoon.

My mother had always been keen on visiting Paris but pushed the thoughts of that out of her mind. After all, she had married her best friend, and that alone was better than any trip to Paris.

Three years after my parents had married they welcomed me into the world. Even though she still had that yearning for visiting Paris, my mother realized that even though she wanted to see the world that I was now her world. Her heart had begun to swell with pride at the life she and my father had created.

When I turned six, my father got promoted as a manager at the warehouse he had worked. Along with the promotion came a giant raise in income. Still, my mother never spoke another word about Paris.

When I turned ten however everything changed. Supposedly every week for the past four years when my father received a check he would put a certain amount of money into a secret bank account. He wanted to give my mother the trip she had always wanted to take.

"Blair, can you please come here for a moment?" my father called into the kitchen as my mother came into the living room while gently wiping her hands on her apron. She had been busy making fried chicken and cornbread and the aroma was radiating throughout the entire house.

When my mother came into the living room, my father handed her a rectangular black suede box. She opened it to reveal three plane tickets to Paris. She gasped in shock as tears of joy fell from her hazel eyes and happiness beamed across her face.

"Every week for the last four years I have been saving money into a secret bank account so I could give you that trip that you have always wanted to take. The only thing we have to do now is to get our passports." My father whispered as he took my mother into his arms and planted a soft kiss upon her pale lips.

"I-I don't know what to say. You didn't have to do this Sam. As long as I have you and Blakely I have all I need." My mother said as she pulled me in close to have a family hug.

"I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. I think it's about time for us to have a family vacation." Dad smiled as he wandered off to the bedroom and started thinking closely about what to pack to take with us on vacation.

Mom wandered back into the kitchen to finish up dinner. When dinner had finished cooking, we all sat down at the circular dining table to eat as a family. We bowed our heads to pray and held each other's hands while doing so.

Silence fell upon the table while we all dined on the feast which my mother had prepared.

After dinner, I helped my mother clear the table and get the dishes washed and put away. We put the leftovers in the fridge to save for later.

After we dried the last of the dishes and put them away, my mother wanted to go to the bookstore to see if she could find a book on the French language. After all, learning the language is part of the experience of the trip.