Raven’s Range
Blather around a virtual range

It was a leap of faith.

At the very last minute, I started to cry. My friends told me to quit that already: I was starting a new life, and it was what I wanted. It was what I wanted. It didn’t stop me from crying.

Tearfully and with heart pounding, I worked my way down the line to departures. An official made sure that I had my specially sealed immigration paperwork with me, knowing that without it I would be turned away when I made it to the USA.

My friends waved at me and their love wafted me through. I was now in the no-man’s-land between countries and lives, and I had a one-way ticket to San Francisco.

I became, after that, strangely calm. The tumultuous chaos of the previous two years was over. Divorce, engagement, immigration, a change of job, and leaving the job when it didn’t work out. Parting, with a heartache that never really ends, from loved ones. Waiting. It was over.

Virgin Air upgraded me to Business Class, so I left the United Kingdom in luxury. Details stand out: the air stewardess who loved the book I was reading, Stephen King’s The Stand, and chatted with me much more than her other clients. The immigration officer who teased me for going to the wrong line and threatened to whip me with a limp noodle. The two massive suitcases I hauled along, and the “Cadillac” Don had borrowed once I assured him that no, this luggage would not fit neatly onto his motorcycle.

I had met Don online, long before that was common. We had not planned to meet. We were not looking for love. We just…met.

And I went with the flow.

I started my life in America on the 10th of August, 1997.

This entry is for the Free-For-All Creativity meme.

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