It's time to meet your cousin!

 My mom came back from her sister's funeral. I expected her to be heartbroken. To be sad at least. She had the opposite opinion. She came happy, smiling, telling me about my cousin, aunt, and uncle and how much fun they had together. She showed me a picture of all of them standing close to each other, smiling at a person with a camera in front of them. 

  "You look so much alike with your cousin. Can't understand why though? Can it be because you have the same name?" my mother was sharing her observations with me.

 It is funny but not just my cousin's and my name were the same but my dad's and her dad's, together with my mom's and hers. It sounds weird but it is true.

 I looked at the picture, trying to find anything similar between my cousin and myself. Nothing was matching. Just the name we shared. She was 13 years older than me. I was 14 then. I thought about her like an old person. Her kid was a Grade 2 student! How are we similar?  In which way?

 "You have to go to meet your cousin," my mom said.

 Me? Go where? We lived at the end of the world. We could see the Arctic Ocean from the highest point of the town. It will take a few days to get to my cousin’s.

 "She is nice, you will enjoy staying with her," my mom said once again, remembering the good time they had together.

 A few days after school was finished for the summer, my mom returned home from work. She came to my room smiling at me. "Summer is here. You are going to see her soon,” she announced loudly. Her voice went up and vibrated a little. It reminded me of a singer who forces the voice after getting to the desired note. 

 “Who? My grandma? I don't want to. Can I stay home?” 

 If you asked me what was the worst vacation I would say to go to see my grandmother. It never was optional, we visited her every summer.

 “No. You are going to meet your cousin,” Mom said. “I got you a ticket.”

 “A ticket? Am I going there by myself? Who is watching me?”

  It sounded suspicious. During 14 years of my life, I had never gone to a different city by myself. 

 “Nobody. You are a big girl. You will travel by plane and your sister will meet you on arrival.”

 Easy, right? Although it was better than the trip to my grandmother.   

 “How long is a flight?” I asked, picturing myself getting on the plane at the airport, which was 80 kilometers from the place we lived. 

 “Not long… One hour and twenty minutes until your first stop where you will stay for a couple of hours, and around the same time to get to your cousin’s city.”

 Nice! There is a stop in between. Still better than going to visit Granny.

“OK, fine, I will go,” I said.

“Of course you will. I can’t bring a ticket back and I'm not losing my money.” My mom was a thrifty person, I bet.

 I was excited to go without anyone. It gave me a feeling of being an adult who is never scared to travel. That is not really true but I didn’t know much about it. There is a lot to think about while traveling. Is the plane on time? Where to go next? Where is a passport? Where is the luggage? What to eat? - you call it. But I didn’t worry about any problems that might occur on the way to meet my cousin. 

 “What if my cousin is not there? How will I know it is her? I have never ever seen her. Oh, my God!” Again, I tried to review the process of my cousin's recognition with my mother.

 “Don’t worry, she will meet you.” And here is my mom, letting me go to the customs.

 It wasn’t bad on the plane. Some food was served. It was included back then. It was freezing though. I was shivering until we landed. I realized that I made it to the first stop! It wasn’t hard at all! 

Now I had to wait a couple of hours for another flight. Excited about how easy the traveling was, I placed myself in front of the departure display. I enjoyed watching lines switching, going from the top to the bottom, making a rattling sound like a kaleidoscope makes when it changes a picture.  My bag was beside me and I was ready to get aboard in a couple of hours.                                                   Approximately in an hour and a half the line displaying my flight changed to the announcement about the delay for another hour. Great! Could I go somewhere? No. I had to stay and wait. In another hour the delay time increased. The plane was behind for 3 and a half hours in total. Panic just covered me. Was my cousin staying on her side waiting for me? I was scared that not. 

 When I got on the plane, tired I fell asleep not thinking about my relatives, including my mom. No more imagining what to do there, where to go, how to find anyone…. I was in the “whatever” stage, forcing myself to the finish.

 I didn’t recall what helped me not to leave my bag on the plane, I didn’t know what time it was. I got out of the plane and followed passengers going somewhere. I was walking and walking, confused, exhausted, and lost in the fog of being half asleep after the landing.

 Someone grabbed me and turned hard.

 “This is the end of me.” I felt the fear in my stomach. It took a second to fill me up from head to toe. It numbed me, suffocated me, and tightened all sounds in my throat. 

 “Lenka, it’s you for sure!” I saw a cute young woman with blond curls. She was smiling. “I am your cousin! So freaking tired of the airline services!”

 I don’t remember much about the way to her place. Her husband was driving us there. My cousin was humming all the songs coming from the radio. I always do it too. We are so much alike, is it not true?