The Preacher's Kid: College and Beyond - 1. Graduation Trip

The Summer after graduation, things really started to take off! For our graduation gift, Mom and Dad gave Matty and me a two-week trip to London! Wow! Never saw that coming! I thought Matty was gonna pee his fucking pants. All he could talk about was all the theatre we would get to see.

I was totally cool with that as long as he didn’t make me go and see Cats. I can honestly say it is the only Broadway musical I truly hate! Obviously, a lot of people like the damned show, or it wouldn’t be taking up space in a West End theatre for so long. I’m just not one of those people. Fortunately, Matty had already seen it and told me he didn’t have any desire to see it again.

Two days after graduation Matty and I boarded an American Airlines flight to Chicago at 6:00 in the evening. God, I hate the Charlotte airport. That place is quite literally Hell-on-Earth! It’s been under construction for as long as I can remember, and there is literally nothing convenient about the operation. Matty decided that it was part of some big secret plan to get all the stress of the trip out of the way before the journey even started. I like his way of thinking!

A couple of hours later, we found ourselves sitting in the Premium Economy section of our British Airways flight to London Heathrow. This was quite cool since the seats were almost identical to the old-style first-class seats from the last time I flew anywhere. The first-class and business-class seats on this plane were like fucking bedrooms! As nice as it was to think about fucking over the Atlantic, the fact is that we were both beat by the time the plane had settled into its cruising altitude.

They brought us a sandwich and a soda, which we enjoyed while watching Spiderman: Far From Home. Neither one of us made it to the end of the movie before we passed out. At one moment, I was watching Tom Holland save Venice, and the next thing I knew, I was being nudged by a totally cute flight attendant.

“Excuse me, sir. May I get you and your companion a pillow and blanket for the night?”

I answered with a groggy, “Yeah. That would be great.” I nudged Matty awake, and we lifted the armrest that separated us. We shared both blankets and reclined the seats. It wasn’t the most comfortable way to fall asleep, but I learned a long time ago that all I needed to sleep well was to have any sort of contact with Matty Jordan.

We both slept like logs as we flew over the ocean. Now—I have a stupid question. Who the fuck came up with that saying? I mean, logs are never awake—and they definitely don’t sleep. Just doesn’t make any sense, does it? But either way—Matty and I slept well.

About two hours before landing, Nigel (our cute flight attendant) nudged us awake and told us breakfast would be served in a short time. Matty gave me all sorts of grief for thinking he was cute. He claimed it was the accent. Maybe it was—but he had a hot body, too!

We got out of our seats and made our way to the restrooms. Luckily the line wasn’t long, and we were back in our places just as Nigel was bringing breakfast. We had ordered a classic American breakfast, and it wasn’t terrible. Even the coffee was pretty decent.

When Nigel had finished picking up dishes, Matty noticed he was heading our way with a smile. “You’ve done it now, big boy! He picked up on your thinking-he’s-cute vibe, and he’s going to make things awkward!”

When he got to our seats, Nigel smiled at me and said, “I’ve been looking at you boys since we left Chicago and—”

Matty interrupted with, “Well, that’s not creepy or anything!” At least he was grinning as he said it!

Nigel blushed and said, “Oh, bollocks! That’s not what I meant! No! No! It’s that you both look so familiar to me, and it finally came to me! You are the blokes from YouTube—the proposal to prom video! That was so bloody romantic!”

Whoa! I never imagined that we would still be recognized almost a year and a half later! Nigel went on and on, talking about how he was so happy that we were still together. I didn’t know if I should be offended by his comment, but he again cleared the air by saying that most boys in sixth form (I guess that British for high school?) don’t make an effort to help relationships last. Without going into too many details, we explained some of the bullshit we had been through together and how we would have never survived without each other.

Of course, I started to tear up when Matty told Nigel, “It was the hard times that brought us closer than most people ever let themselves get. I know in my heart that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this amazing boy.”

One of the other flight attendants whispered into Nigel’s ear, and he told us he needed to go to another section of the plane. He wished us a wonderful trip to London, and we didn’t see him again until we were getting off the plane and heading to customs.

It took us a little more than an hour to get through all the airport bullshit before we were in the hotel shuttle, making our way through the streets of London. Holy shit! I’ve never seen anything like this city! Matty booked us a room at the Radisson Blu on Mercer Street. It was this beautiful old building on the outside and totally modern on the inside.

Matty insisted that we pay for the hotel for our trip. After more than a little convincing, Mom and Dad agreed as long as they could pay for half of the shows we were planning to see. One show wasn’t going to cost anyone anything. Matty and Andrew Barth Feldman had stayed in touch after we saw Dear Evan Hansen in New York. When Matty mentioned to him that we were going to London, Andrew insisted we see the London production of DEH. He got us tickets at the Noel Coward theatre. That’s going to be the first show we’ll be seeing—tonight!

By the time we got up to our room, I was totally wiped out. As much as I wanted to go out and start seeing London, all I could see was that beautiful king-sized bed and the mountain of soft fluffy pillows lined up against the headboard. Matty suggested a shower before we took a nap. No matter how sleepy I might be, there’s always enough in me to be naked in the water with my hot boy!

It was one of the tamest showers we’d ever taken together. Don’t get me wrong—we stroked each other off as we were soaping each other’s bodies. Dude, I promise if you had Matty’s hard cock in front of you, you’d not be able to keep your hands off, either!

We got out of the shower, dried each other off, and brushed our teeth before we climbed into the bed for a two-hour nap. The last thing I remember was wrapping my arms around Matty before the alarm on my phone woke us up.

Matty turned off the alarm and crawled back under the blanket. We kissed, and in nothing more than 10 seconds flat, we were hard again. Matty slid under the covers and turned his body around. Yup! There’s nothing as wonderful as waking with a hot 69 and tasting Matty’s nut not long after we start!

We cleaned up, got dressed for dinner before the show, and went down to the hotel restaurant. Wow—it was an Italian/Peruvian restaurant. And the Peruvian part of the menu looked awfully Mexican to me. We asked the Concierge where we could find some good British cuisine, and he sent us just down the street to a café that served fish and chips.

Now—I’m not an expert on international cuisine or anything, but fish and chips were pretty much fried fish and French fries! It was good, though—and we enjoyed our first legal beer since the drinking age in England is eighteen!

After eating, we walked a few blocks to the theatre and picked up our tickets. There was an envelope with the tickets that had a note inside from Sam Tutty, the London star of Dear Evan Hansen:

Welcome to London, chaps! I’ve heard quite a bit about how amazing the two of you are from Andrew and can’t wait to meet you. Please remain at your seats after the show, and someone will meet you to bring you backstage. Enjoy the show! -Sam

Sweet! It looks like we’re going to make a new friend in London! About five minutes after we were seated in the most amazing seats in the theatre, Matty’s phone vibrated with a text from Andrew.

ABFLDMN04: enjoy the show boys! u should be meeting sam afterward. i know you’ll love him!

The first thing we noticed about Sam Tutty is that he was a completely different type from Andrew. While Andrew is long and lean, Sam is built—and I mean hot built! He’s also ginger and has a gorgeous voice. He played Evan nerdier than Andrew. The way he presented Evan gave the show a different feel, but it was still amazing—and the two of us were sobbing at the end again.

After the show, we hung out in our seats. A couple of minutes later, an usher soon came and took us backstage and up the stairs to the dressing rooms. She knocked on Sam’s door, and he announced for us to go in.

Whoa! When I said Sam Tutty was hot built, I had no idea that he was solid muscle and actually hot-as-fuck built! I think I heard Matty gasp when we walked into the dressing room. Sam was sitting at his mirror, taking off his makeup, and was shirtless.

“Ahh! Eddie and Matty! Thank you for coming up! Did you enjoy the show?” He wiped his hands on a towel and walked over to us—giving each of us a hug. Dayum!! I was starting to get hard! I should feel guilty, but—DAYUM!

“Matty and I were in tears through most of the show. You were amazing.”

“I love how you play Evan your way. It’s nice that they let you make him your own character and not a copy of another actor’s.”

“And that answers my next question. I’m guessing with that observation that you’re the theatre boy—Matty?”

“Yes. And this is my boyfriend, Eddie.”

“I’ve been so excited to meet the two of you! As soon as Andrew told me you were coming, he sent me a link to your video on YouTube. Bollocks! You have almost three million views!”

“I think half of those views are from my brother. He posted it and was constantly viewing it to get his numbers up!”

Sam chuckled and smiled. What?? That smile was killer! “I’m just glad I got to see it—a lot. It was so beautiful. I hope I can find that kind of love someday.”

My eyes got wide. “Are you kidding? You will have no problem finding a girl—or boy—who will make your life complete!”

“Well, it could be a girl. But I’m nearly certain it will be a boy.”

Sam went back to his table and pulled a tee-shirt off the back of his chair. He pulled it over his head, and I think I actually groaned a bit. Oh God! Did I do that out loud?

Matty chuckled, letting me know he heard me. Sam looked at me with that sexy grin and said, “I’m needed at the stage door to sign some autographs. Just wait here for a bit. When I come back, I’ll take it off again—if you take yours off!”

He smiled as he left the dressing room. Matty and I went and sat down on the sofa.

“Whoa! Did Evan Hansen just hit on my boyfriend?”

“I think he did! Do you really think he—”

“Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure Sam would like to get to know us—you—a lot better. But I don’t know—I’m pretty new at all this stuff.”

“So, if Andrew Barth Feldman had hit on you like that, would you have gone with it? I mean, with me there, of course.”

Matty thought a minute and said, “I might have asked if you would want to try something new and different, yeah.”

“And Sam—?”

“Would you like that?”

“Only if you were there—and there were some ground rules.”

“Hmmm. Let’s do this. Let’s see where it goes—if things go anywhere. And if it gets to a place where either of us is uncomfortable, then we let each other know and stop things.”

“Are we gonna have our first three-way?” Damn! Just the thought of being in bed with both Matty and the hottest actor-boy I’ve ever seen already had me hard!

“Who knows? But I can see that your cock is sure hoping so!” I blushed as Matty pushed my hand onto his hardness. “You’re not the only one, baby.”

“Hey! We’re on vacation, and we promised to have as many once-in-a-lifetime adventures, right?”

“Right!”

About fifteen minutes later, Sam knocked on the door and came back into the dressing room. I was on the small sofa with Matty, leaning against him and resting my head on his shoulder.

“Hi, boys. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long. I weaseled my way from the crowd as quickly as I could. I was wondering—would you be interested in letting me take you to one of the hottest clubs in London?”

While he was talking, Sam stripped down to his briefs. Holy Shit! He had the body of a total athlete, not a musical theatre actor! Sam had to have noticed us gawking—yes, even Matty gulped—and smiled at us as he slipped into his jeans. Of course, he turned around, so his ass was nearly in our faces as he bent over. This boy was so hitting on us!

Matty and I looked at each other and smiled. Yes! We were going clubbing in fucking London! Who would’ve ever imagined that a couple of boys from the South would one day be going out to a club with one of London’s hottest new West End stars? Yes, this is my life!

“Well?”

“Yeah, Eddie and I would like that!”

“Excellent! I’ll call an Uber, and we should be on our way in no time! And don’t worry, I’ll make sure we get you back to your hotel—which is?”

“We’re staying at the Radisson Blu on Mercer.”

“Excellent! That’s near my flat, so no one will be troubled with out-of-the-way driving!”

Sam had finished dressing and put down his phone. “Great! The driver is only a few minutes away. He’ll meet us in front of the stage door.”

Sam looked at us, held out his arms, and smiled. Matty and stood as Sam pulled us into a wonderful group hug. “Boys, it is, at this moment, my duty to make this the night in London you’ll never forget!”

Sam flipped a switch, turning off the lights around his mirror. He led us out and down to the stage door, where he signed out. When we walked out of the theatre, there were still a few stragglers wanting autographs. Sam smiled at them and signed their programs while we stayed in the background.

One of Sam’s friends asked if Matty and I were with the show, and he told them that we were his friends from America. He said we were going out to enjoy some London nightlife just as a small blue car pulled up and honked its horn.

“There’s our Uber!”

Matty and I took the back seat while Sam sat in front with the driver. “We’re going to Heaven on Villiers Street, please.” And we were off!

There was quite a long line outside the club, but Sam led us to the doorman, who welcomed him and let us right in. “Welcome to Heaven, boys!”

The club was massive! Matty and I were both in awe. This would be the first gay club we’d ever been to, and we had to stick close to each other as we made our way to the bar. Sam ordered ales for all of us, and we made our way up the stairs and to a stand-up table that overlooked the dance floor.

The beer---erm, ale—was delicious! So much better than American beer! When we finished our drinks, Sam took our hands and told us it was time to dance. He led us back down the stairs and to the dance floor. Shawn Mendes’ Señorita was playing, and Sam pulled us into him and began rolling and grinding against our bodies. Fucking. Hot.

It didn’t take long for the three of us to be in total sync with our grinding bodies. Shit! If we weren’t fully dressed or in public, you would have thought that we were already in a sexy three-way. We stayed on the dance floor for over an hour. We were having the best time of our young lives.

More than once, I felt Sam’s hard cock press up against me—and of course, that made me hard. During Who Do You Love by the Chainsmokers, Matty leaned into me and asked, “Do you wanna?” while tilting his head towards our hot-as-fuck host.”

“Do you?”

“You only live once. Let’s get Sam out of here!”

After the song ended, I leaned into Sam’s ear and said, “Let’s get outta here, k?”

He gave me a funny look, and I answered him with a smile and a nod. As soon as he realized what we wanted, Sam’s face was covered with a huge grin and sparkling eyes. He led us out the door as he was calling for his Uber.

While we were waiting for the car to arrive, Sam pulled the two of us in and said, “Just so you chaps know, I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m sorry if I seem a little anxious about this.”

“It’s a first for us as well. Eddie and I promise to be gentle, respectful, and all about the fun—I think we’ll be okay.”

I looked at Matty and smiled. My boy knew what he was doing. And I could see Sam visibly relax as the car pulled up.

It was quite a bit later, but we finally made it back to the West End. Once we were in the elevator and on our way up, Sam sniffed his shirt and groaned. “Between the show, the dancing, and two hot lads, I definitely need a shower. Is that okay?”

“Only if Matty and I can join you. I mean, we both need showers, too. We should most definitely save water, don’t you think?”

Before Sam could answer, the elevator door opened, and we went straight to our room. Matty slid the card in the lock and opened the door. As soon as we were all in the room, I put out the “do not disturb” sign and latched the door. Matty pulled both Sam and me in, and we were in a hot triple kiss. I think it took all of five seconds for Sam to start moaning—quickly followed by Matty and me.

It wasn’t long before we started taking clothes off of each other, and the next thing I knew, three horny, naked boys were pressing their muscular bodies together with even more kissing and moaning.

“Shower. Now.”

The three of us made our way into the bathroom, and Matty got the water nice and warm. He turned in the shower and held the shower curtain back. It was a little crowded, but that was fine by me! Sam stood between Matty and me, with his back to Matty and his front to me.

Sam and I kissed as he reached down and wrapped his hand around my hard cock. “Stunning. You have a stunning dick, Eddie.” I reached down and wrapped my hand around Sam’s and was surprised at how thick it was. When I pulled up on his cock, the skin would cover the head. I couldn’t wait to get a closer look—it was the first time I’d seen an uncut cock!

Sam finished kissing me and turned around to face Matty. As they were kissing and moaning, I had one hand playing with Sam’s nipple and the other between his muscular cheeks so I could tickle his hairless hole.

Believe it or not, we actually cleaned each other without nutting in the shower. We dried each other off, zipped the hairdryer through our hair, and made it into the bed, led by our hard cocks.

Matty had Sam lie down in the middle of the bed, and the two of us were on either side of our new friend. Holy fuck! I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a more intense look of desire in another human being! This boy wanted it—and he wanted it baaaaaaaad!

Matty and I explored Sam’s hot body with our lips and tongues, which was driving our boy crazy! By the time we had worked our way down to his chiseled abs, Sam was thrashing about on the bed and moaning to the point it sounded like he was crying!

When we got to Sam’s cock, both of us got our first-ever view of a hard, uncut cock. We played with it, making the skin move up over the head and back down again. Matty and I both started to lick the head of Sam’s cock and completely loved the taste of his very present precum.

Matty and I had the same thought at the same time—we each wrapped our mouths around a side of Sam’s cock until our lips touched. It was as though I was kissing my boyfriend—only there was this big, thick, uncut British cock in the middle of everything.

Sam reached down and put his hands behind each of our heads, pressing them together. Once he had the pressure right, Sam started thrusting his cock in and out of our mouths. He was moaning like crazy now, and after just a couple of minutes, he panted, “So. Fucking. Close. Gonna cum! Gonna! Cum! Now!”

Sam bolted up from the bed and froze as his thick cock began to throb with the release of his nut—which ended up all over our faces. Once Sam settled down, Matty and I sat up on our knees and faced each other. Matty took a finger, scooped some of Sam’s nut from my cheek, and put it in his mouth. Great idea! I did the same thing while Sam watched us.

Once our faces were clean, Matty and I started kissing—getting more and more passionate with every second that passed by.

“So hot! So. Fucking. Hot! You boys are the sexiest thing I think I’ve ever seen!” Sweet! That only caused Matty and me to kiss even harder—and moan even louder! “Will you do it boys? Will you shag for me?”

Matty pulled back and gave me the dirtiest fucking grin I’ve ever seen from him. “Mr. Hamilton, it appears our guest would like to see some shagging. In other words, I think he would like to watch me fuck the ever-living shit out of my boyfriend. You up for that?”

“Oh, baby! I’m on my fucking back for that cock of yours!”

Sam moved over to the side of the bed as Matty pushed me down on my back. He grabbed my legs and pulled forward so that my ass was on the edge of the mattress. He spread my legs into an upright “V” and told Sam that he might want to help him slick up his cock.

“Lube? Or will my mouth do?”

“Suck my boyfriend’s cock, Sam! Get it good and wet!”

“Only after I give your ass a nice, good rimming!”

Fuck yes! This was going to be hot as fuck, and I immediately pulled my legs up to my chest. I’ve only felt one other boy’s tongue on my hole—and he was grinning from ear to ear, watching Sam dive into my ass. And holy shit! Did Sam ever dive into my ass!

Now, I will deny it to my dying breath, but Sam’s tongue was like nothing I’ve ever felt before! That boy was tongue-fucking me like a crazy boy! I was moaning and thrashing around on the bed while my cock began dripping a steady flow of precum.

Matty pulled Sam’s head out of my ass and told him he had to stop since I’ve been known to nut just from a good rimming. But Matty didn’t keep Sam’s mouth idle for long as he guided it to his throbbing cock.

“That’s right, Sam! Get my cock good and wet for Eddie’s hot little ass! Suck my cock, Sam! Suck it!”

I can’t begin to tell you how it was to watch another hot boy suck off my boyfriend. It was even hotter hearing his mouth get all slurpy and sloppy all over Matty’s cock. It didn’t take long for Matty to pull out of Sam’s mouth. “Holy shit, Sam! Your mouth is amazing!” Sam just chuckled, “Yeah, so I’ve heard!”

Matty took my legs and put them back into that “V” and then asked Sam to stand over me and hold my legs in place. He took his wet cock and slid it over my throbbing hole before finally pushing it in all the way. I moaned out with pleasure as Sam just let out a “wow!”

I think Matty knew exactly what he was doing. With Sam standing on the bed and holding my legs apart, Matty found a hard British cock in front of his face. While fucking me, Matty opened his mouth and took Sam’s cock in. Sam immediately began thrusting in and out of Matty’s mouth while Matty kept pounding my ass in the way he knew I liked it.

I was more than surprised when Sam announced that he was about to nut again—so soon after having just cum all over our faces.

“Swallow his load, Matty! Fuck his face, Sam! Fuck me, Matty! Fuck me!

It took less than fifteen seconds for me to see Sam’s ass clench tight as he moaned and shot his load into Matty’s mouth! It was so hot to see, and it brought me even closer.

“I’m close, Matty! So. Fucking. Close!”

“Take his load, Sam! Swallow Eddie’s nut while I pump mine into his ass!”

The next thing I knew, Sam’s mouth was wrapped around my cock just as I began shooting my nut. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck! Ooooooooh! Ooooooooh!”

“Cumming, baby! Take my nut, Eddie!”

Woah! All that sex and not a single drop of nut was wasted! Amazing, if you ask me!

After the three of us returned to Earth, we pulled the covers up and fell fast asleep with me in the middle. The next thing I knew, there was a knock on the door. Sam answered it in his jeans, but shirtless. He rolled in a cart and looked over to the bed. Good morning boys, I went ahead and ordered a full English breakfast for us.

Now, a full English breakfast looks just like an American breakfast—at least on one half of the plate. The familiar part was the eggs, sausage, and ham. The English part was the roasted mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, and baked—yes, baked—beans. It was actually quite a good combination, and I told Matty we needed to have a full English breakfast when we got back home.

Matty told Sam that he didn’t have to go to all the trouble of ordering breakfast. “Trouble? It was no trouble at all. I just picked up the phone and ordered room service! Besides, I wanted to thank you both for showing me such a lovely time.”

“Sam, you did more than your share of showing a great time to both Matty and me. I’m so glad we met and ended up together like that.”

“Eddie and I have never shared a bed with another boy, but we decided that we wanted to have a special adventure on our trip—and you made that possible. I don’t think we’ll ever do it again—and no, not because of you or anything—it’s just not something we’ve ever wanted to do before. But I do have to tell you—I’m sure glad that when we decided to share our bed with another boy, we decided to do that with you. You are going to make another boy—or girl—incredibly happy.”

“Someday. Perhaps. Who knows? Right now, the last thing I need is to get involved in a relationship. I’m too focused on the show right now. It’s a pretty brutal show to do six times a week.”

“You don’t have eight shows a week over here?”

“Sure we do, but the producers in all four productions don’t let the Evans do more than six shows a week. It’s for the best, really. We don’t kill our voices, and the understudies get to do two shows a week.”

Sam gave each of us a kiss before he left the room, promising that we would all stay in touch. Matty and I went back to bed and slept another couple of hours.

I like sleeping on my back sometimes, and whenever I do, it seems Matty likes to take advantage of me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up in the morning with my cock deep in Matty’s throat. Well, I woke up to yet another first. When I woke up from a most pleasant dream, I found my cock buried deep in Matty’s quarterback ass! Whoa! I’m soooooo glad my boyfriend is insatiable. Of course, the fact that I’m just as insatiable makes the two of us quite compatible!

The rest of our stay in London was very typically touristy. During the day, we would visit something most tourists would visit. We took a trip to the Millennium Wheel, visited London Bridge, toured a couple of castles, had our photo taken in front of Buckingham Palace, and spent an afternoon at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

In the evening, we would go to the theatre. We finally got to see Hamilton and were totally blown away. We also saw Tina, the musical about to open on Broadway and Six, which Sam recommended. That was an awesome show, which was about the six wives of Henry VIII. The music was contemporary and amazing!

We took in a couple of non-musicals, too. One of them was The Mousetrap, which is an Agatha Christie play. It’s also the longest-running play ever—anywhere in the world.

Our last night in London saw us going to see Mary Poppins. I mean, c’mon! We were in London, for God’s sake! It was the perfect way to end our theatre extravaganza.

The last day we were in London, we had lunch with Sam. It was great seeing him again. We had a wonderful time, and no—there was no sex. We were just three good friends hanging out one last time before we headed home. Before we ended lunch, the three of us exchanged all the contact information we had and promised to stay in touch.

The following day we got a call from Mom and Dad. They missed us and said they would meet us at the airport to take us home.

Before we checked out of the hotel, we made a trip to Harrod’s to pick up a couple of gifts. For Nate, we decided on a beautiful Hogwarts chess set. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t play chess, but we figured it was something that would keep Simon and him busy and out of trouble—at least part of the time.

Since Mom was such a huge fan of Princess Diana, we found a necklace with a duplicate of her engagement ring hanging on it. Dad was the hardest to find something and couldn’t find anything he would like in Harrod’s. On the way back to the tube, we passed an antique bookstore and found a beautiful set of Shakespeare's complete works.

We made it back to the hotel to check out and hop in a cab back to Heathrow. It felt like it took forever to get through security, but we finally made it to the gate and were soon on board the jet and ready to head back to the States.

Matty and I had an awesome trip! We made love at least twice a day and fulfilled our promise to have as many adventures as we could. Our experience with Sam was just that—an adventure. It was a lot of fun, and the best part was there were no strange feelings afterward. We talked about it and decided that we did it—and probably would not want to do it again.

I guess that’s the advantage of being young. You can try things for the sake of trying them and then just move past them.

All I know is that this was a trip I will never forget for as long as I live. I didn’t think it was possible, but Matty and I left London even closer to each other than when we arrived. We had a busy Summer ahead of us before Matty had to go to App State for football practice, so the time we had just shared was the perfect way to start our first Summer after high school!

We both slept for the majority of the trip back to the States. They woke us up for our meals, and we did try to watch a couple of inflight movies. We never made it through an entire film since we fell asleep each time. Oh well.

Mom, Dad, and Nate met us at the airport, and it was great to see them again. It was even good to see the little brother again!

When we got home, we handed out the gifts we brought home. Everyone loved them—even Nate. He went to his room and fired up YouTube so he could learn how to play chess. Mom made dinner for us, and soon after we finished, Matty and I headed home. We were exhausted—but we were incredibly happy to be back home.

I’m already dreading the day my boy moves away for school. Matty is doing a great job of keeping a positive outlook. That’s one of the thousands of things I love about him. No matter what seems to be bothering me, he always has this knack for making things better.

So—here we were—back home on Friday and looking forward to a weekend to get our jet lag under control. We had to get it under control—on Monday, we were going to start our Summer job at Dad’s church. We are going to be joining the staff for the Teen Day Camp. It should be a blast—but you never know what lies ahead when you’re dealing with a group of teenagers!