Alyssa Thompson
Guest Blogger
I’m pretty sure that just about everyone has “travel the world” on their life’s bucket list. I’ve been blessed to have parents that understand the value of traveling and have the resources to fund it, and over the years I’ve been able to do just that. I’ve seen a lot (although less than some), from Sweden and Denmark to Holland and Belgium.
This summer I was able to take a trip with my mom to the cities: London and Paris. It was a dream trip, as I’d been to neither city before. I took a lot of things away from the trip besides souvenirs, too many photos, and great memories. The most valuable thing I learned was spurred by what was one of the scariest moments of my life. While in London a few days into our trip, we were heading from a fine dinner of traditional fish n’ chips at the Sherlock Holmes Pub to a theater to see David Tennant and Catherine Tate (all you Doctor Who fans, swoon) in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”. We decided we had just enough time to walk in lieu of taking a cab, and happened to cross paths with what has got to be a pedestrian’s worst nightmare: the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 red carpet premiere in Leicester square. Imagine the largest crowd of screaming, camera-laden fans you’ve ever seen and multiply it by ten. We thought it was hilarious that we just happened to be there for the event, and took a minute to get the best glimpse we could above countless heads of the stars on the red carpet. I had my camera at the ready, of course, and snapped just enough photos that I knew the siblings would ooze with jealousy. When I turned around, though, mom had walked on and was gone. I turned in every direction, but the only thing in sight was a sea of Potter fans. I panicked, briefly, as anyone would do, but thought clearly to myself: “She knows I know where the theater is. She’ll know I’ll go there”. I located a map, and confidently turned a corner where the theater was waiting, but mom wasn’t. I paced outside of the door until the show started, five minutes after the show started, then twenty, when I really began to panic. My phone didn’t have service, and hers had died during the day. I had no way of reaching her whatsoever. I checked in with the box office- she definitely wasn’t inside. I stood on the steps of the theatre and tried not to draw attention to the fact that I was absolutely terrified. As crowds of people spilled around street corners, I searched every face for hers with no luck. The fear was petrifying.
After what seemed like hours (but was really 40 minutes) my mom and a fully-uniformed “bobby”, or British police officer, came into view. If I’ve ever lived a movie moment, this was it. We ran to each other and embraced, crying, while the policeman looked on awkwardly at our reunion. I cannot describe the relief I felt. We thanked him and left arm in arm to watch what was left of our show.
Although this may seem just like a scary moment, it has really made me think. Every teenager on the brink of adulthood and independence would like to think that they can go anywhere and do anything, independent of their parents. “Sure I can survive alone… I don’t need any help”. I’ve certainly thought that time and time again over the past few years. The moments of fear at the separation from my mother allowed me to bring things into perspective as my independent streak grows stronger and stronger as I near college and adult life. I’ve realized that maybe I need mom there more than I think I do sometimes. I believe that there’s something valuable to learn from every journey we go on, near or far, we just have to learn to get lost a little bit. Otherwise, we won’t know how nice it is to be found.
