Forget Me Not {J. Oleksiak}

F O U R T E E N - THE PARENTS.

Washington, D.C, well really Arlington, Virginia, is a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Dallas. I've made this trip many times since my parents moved North and normally I find it to be the perfect length of time. Just long enough to do some studying for school, read for pleasure, or take a nap.

But on this particular trip, the time is not enough.

Because I need more than 2.5 hours to mentally prepare for my parents to meet my boyfriend for the first time.

Last time around, Jamie was traded a few weeks before he was set to meet my parents. We were all devastated, my parents included. So we pushed it off, said we'd do it eventually, then things got crazy and ultimately we broke up before we ever got to reschedule.

I love my parents, they have been together for nearly thirty years now and their love story is my favorite. Anne Claire and Michael fell in love while my dad was at West Point and my mom was studying chemistry at Vassar. They are loving, supportive, encouraging, kind and warm people. Usually.

But Jamie had broken their only daughter's heart, and that was not going to be easily forgiven by Anne Claire and General Michael T. Holden.

My father is a military man through and through, he's Army Strong, has been since birth and his stone-cold behavior is to be expected.

But my mother? My sweet mother who may look like she could bake you a pie and bring you to the Lord without breaking a sweat, was actually born and raised in Long Island, New York by her police officer father and a hair stylist mother.

She had hidden her accent well over the years, but that New York grit put the fear of God into my brother and I a time or two. So I'm just really hoping it doesn't come out to bite Jamie tomorrow afternoon.

According to the flight map I've got 45 minutes until we land and even then, I won't see Jamie for another 24 hours. The Stars are in Nashville for a game against the Predators before flying up to Washington tonight. They'll land in the wee hours of the morning keeping me from seeing my boyfriend until our scheduled lunch tomorrow afternoon.

So this evening, I'll entertain my parents, answer as many questions as I can, and try my hardest to soften them down for Jamie. Tomorrow we will all have lunch together and I'll take my parents to their first hockey game that night. And things will be fine.

Or so I keep telling myself.

My mom picks me up on the curb outside Ronald Reagan dressed to the nines as usual. She greets me with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek as I toss my bags into the back of her Honda Civic. "How was your flight dear?"

"It was okay, I read a little for school." Lies. I stared out the window nauseous as hell and tried not to think of all the ways this lunch could go wrong.

She hums as we both climb into the white car, "I picked you up some lunch, I figured you would be starved."

Looking down I see a white Chick-Fil-A bag and a large cup waiting for me my stomach rumbles without even looking into the bag. "Wow, yes I'm starving! Thanks, Mama."

"I know my girl," She shoots me a wink as she merges out into the airport traffic heading towards their new home in Arlington, Virginia. The new house is much smaller and more modern than our old family home in Killeen, but it's nice and there's a small backyard for Echo. It's the change my parents needed even if it was hard to accept.

My mom parks her car and I rush out of the vehicle, one I really need to pee and two I want to see my dog. "I'll get your bags baby, go see Echs." My mother tosses me her keys and I'm up the steps in a hurry ready to see the old yellow lab for the first time since Thanksgiving.