Now that I think about the trip I took for my 18th birthday, I have no regrets. It was the best thing that I could have done for my boyfriend and me. This was the trip that made me realize that I knew I could spend the rest of my life with him.

I wanted my family to meet my boyfriend, Zach. It was the first time my boyfriend and I had gone 11 full days with each other; I thought for sure we would get tired of each other and cut the trip short. Luckily, I was wrong; it ended up being a trip we needed to make things better. We left for Reno, Nevada on October 2nd and returned home on the 11th. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into; I just knew that it was going to be interesting. I learned a lot about Zach and he learned a lot about me.


We took off on Friday, the 2nd at around 2:30 and didn’t make it to Reno until 11 o’clock that night. I don’t know if you know this, but being in the car with anyone for that long, especially if it’s your boyfriend, drives you insane. We had a lot of fun, we played every car game we could think of and even made up a few of our own. When we finally got there we both were so tired that I am surprised that we even took our stuff inside my uncle’s house. The next few days we hung out with my dad, my uncle Tony, and my cousin’s finance, Becca. While we were there my dad went to the doctors and found out that his liver was failing; he has been an alcoholic my whole life. I was so glad that Zach was there to comfort me and make me feel better. The rest of the days we were there were spent trying to act like everything was okay and watching my dad drink himself away. Zach and I were both ready to leave at this point. We left Reno and headed for Southern California on Monday the 5th at 5:30 in the morning.


I thought that the drive to Reno was bad but this drive was pretty bad, but not the worst. It took us 10 hours to get the Zach’s aunt’s house. I got to meet his aunt, cousins, and his grandmother. One thing I learned about his family was that his grandmother was crazy; you never knew when she was mad and when she was serious. If you called her grandma you were in huge trouble; it was grandmother! That night we stayed at my grandma’s, Nanie. This is where I got my laptop for my birthday! We went to lunch with her the next morning and then took off for my sister’s house, two hours away.


Zach made me drive because I really had driven much the whole trip. We got there and my sister had a bunch of her friends over for a BBQ; her friends are like family. I took care of my nephew, the cutest baby in the world, for my sister because I never get to see him. We didn’t do a whole lot at her house just hung out and talked.

The next trip was to Fresno where my mom lives. This was the part of the trip that I was the most nervous about. My mom hadn’t met Zach yet and if she didn’t approve it would have been way hard for me to stay with him. We arrived at her house at around 6:30. I was glad to find that my mom loved him; maybe more then she loves me. Usually I would be way mad about something like that but I was happier about her liking him then me not being the favorite anymore.



From my mom’s we headed home. That was probably the worst drive of my life. It took 12 hours to finally get back. We were so bored that we were not only making up our own games but replaying games like five times. I slept most of the time. We had a lot of fun though.


From this trip I learned things about everyone that I didn’t know. I became a lot closer with my mom and my dad. And the trip made Zach and me so comfortable with one another. We now have no problem farting in front of each other, pooping, and telling each other how we really feel. Those things sound silly but they made us stronger. We now can deal with being with each other for days and days at a time with no breaks, no going to school and work to get away, and no hanging out with your friends to blow off steam. It affected me in all good ways. It was the best time I’ve had so far.