4:25 AM

On 4:25 AM of Sunday 18th I woke up. I have prepared for this day years ago (and when I say years I mean more than 5). I was feeling excited but not as much as I would feel for a leisure travel, I was very nervous. I got washed and was ready. On our way to the airport it was really foggy, and drizzling. At the airport I said my good byes to my dad and went in side to get in line. While in line Alejandra calls asking where I was, she told me a couple of days before that she'd come to visit me. I never thought she would actually go before 6 AM to an airport just to say goodbye, but she and Zhanzhy came to say good bye. The plane ride was really empty and there were no screaming children compared to my February flight to Orlando. We even had the spot in the middle empty, so it was Max's seat. I slept and read the whole flight. I arrived and we went directly to Panda Express (my favorite restaurant in the US). I ordered my usual: Noodles and double portion of broccoli beaf. After lunch we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy my bed sheets but they were out of the ones I wanted so we went to Tampa. A two hour drive. There were 3 traffic jams due to 3 car crashes. One was off the road in the woods up side down! I finally arrived at 5:30 PM and we bought the bed sheets. I went to USF. My first time in USF. And I checked in. There's no lift in Delta so I had to carry my bags one floor. First day in Tampa: Success. Rest of the days I'll be here in Tampa: Beyond Success.

Family Sunday (6/30/2013)

Today mom and I went for lunch with my grandma and great grandmother to Multiplaza Mall. They ate at Crepes and Waffles while I ate chicken tenders from Carl's Jr. I know what you are thinking.. "How lame, you could have eaten a sophisticated crepe but chose mediocre chicken tenders". The thing is: I've always been like that. Choosing crappy food over luxurious one. After lunch we went and bought Cristy's birthday cake at Dairy Queen (Oreo Blizzard), then we stopped by the tech store to pick up dad's new tablet (which is totally a surprise) and finished our outing going to the super market. 

When we got back home mom went to charge the new tablet while I read my new book: "Beautiful Disaster" by Jamie McGuire which is turning out pretty good. Right now I'm about 50% of the book through and don't know how is it going to develop because there has been so much drama in this half of the book. Also the girl is finally with the guy who she's supposed to be, at the middle of the book. I have no idea what's coming ahead. 

At 6:30 we went to a Chinese Restaurant in celebration of Cristy's 23! The menu was kind of put together by her, so there was a lot of green stuff. Everybody showed up at the dinner, including my dad, Luis and David (Cristy's boyfriend). We had a nice time and specially enjoyed the birthday cake, yummy!

When we came back home we gave dad our present! He was so so so excited! I though he was going to be mad because we spend so much money on him, but he was actually thrilled to have a new toy. We spent about hour and a half installing his games, e-mail, and else. He was smiling the whole time, so happy we got him that; specially now that he is working on the mines and has nothing to do and no way of contacting with us. I miss him so much :( But I'm happy we got to put a smile on his face tonight. 

I'll miss my pop so much when I departure for college, and my mom too. Poor mom, she'll be alone at home, and dad alone at work, while I'll be alone at college. Either way we'll make it through.

I loved this day, primarily because of dad's face when he got his present. Life's not about presents and objects, it's about the joy that comes out of them, or out of anything. Material things are not bad ways of happiness, but is another source capable of giving us joy.