A/N: An English assignment that I ended up liking. 3 words the teacher provided and build a story around these words that told some lesson you had learned in life.

A Million Miles from Home

Boy, Window, CD

I leaned my head against the cool glass of the window with a heavy sigh. Slowly, my eyes scanned the world beyond my apartment, a world blanketed in snow and conveying an aura of serenity. The entire scenery seemed to glow in the pale light of the dying day, broken only by groups of people scattered randomly across the street. Behind me, the gentle hum of my CD filled the room, and the somewhat depressing tone of the song seemed to fit with my mood.

“It’s a pretty song, isn’t it?” I asked, turning to my roomate, Naomi. She tossed me a smile over her shoulder.

“Except for the fact that I don’t understand a word of it,” she chuckled, shaking her head. “Diego, you’re crazy, you know that? Loco.” I snickered to myself, barely able to understand Naomi’s rapid Spanish. After six months in America, I had seemed to lose a grip on my native language. Then again, those six months in America had changed a lot about me.

I turned back to the window, once again letting the song wash over me.

“When the trees start to sway and the wind makes them move, I can tell that you don’t know…” The gentle melody seemed to stir my thoughts, and I felt a small lump forming in my throat. I could not help but find the truth in the lyrics. The ones I had left behind, the ones who were not here next to me, could not possibly see the snow-covered trees swaying outside my window. Against my will, memories began to dance across my mind, reminding me of the mornings spent in the place I so missed.

“Woah, Diego, look! The trees are… snowish!” The hyper, excited voice rang through my mind, and I felt my eyes begin to sting. I could picture the young teenaged-girl to whom the voice belonged yanking on my arm and pointing to the trees on the mountain. I shook my head as if to rid myself of the image. I did not want to think of her, or of anyone for that matter. I missed them all too much. Instead, I let my eyes wander to the groups of people that filled the streets.

Suddenly, despite myself, I felt my heart leap, but it was only to sink once again moments later. Diego, who are you kidding? What would Will be doing all the way in Argentina? I scolded myself, watching a young boy who resembled someone I had left behind. He even had a snowboard tucked under his arm.

“You miss it, don’t you?”

I turned slowly to face Naomi, nodding solemnly. With a sigh, she turned the heat of the stove to “low” and then jumped up to sit on the counter. Her face was etched with sympathy, and I found it hard to meet her concerned gaze.

“Well, Diego, tell me this: What is it you miss?” she asked softly. I actually laughed, raking a hand through my messy dark hair before replacing the beanie on my head.

“What do I miss? What do I miss? I miss everything! I miss the instructors and the kids and standing around in the morning waiting to see who would show up and the snowball fights and the kids who would spray me when they stopped and hot-chocolate breaks and… and…”

I hung my head, no strength in me to continue. I missed everything! The deep despair and longing within me could not be portrayed in words, and Naomi seemed to understand that.

“Three years you’ve been doing this, spending six months of winter in America and then six months of winter in Argentina, and only now do you miss it this much?” she asked, genuine curiousity in her shining eyes. I let out a small laugh, one with no heart in it at all, and turned my gaze as my mind filled with memories once more.

“The first two years, it was just a job as a snowboard instructor while it was summer in Argentina. This year... this year, it was so much more,” I told her softly, a smile crossing my face as I once again pictured the teenaged-girl with the infectous smile. “In December, a girl, Corey, came to my snowboard class. She was talking with another girl like best friends, but I found out they had only just met. That was when I realized the reason so many people loved that place: it was friendship with no conflict. There was no reason for there ever to be anything except unconditional friendship. And Corey? She kept coming back throughout the season, and she would always tell the instructors funny things like ‘You’re my hero!’ and those random phrases seemed to unite us. I got to know the instructors so that when we passed each other, we’d shout the things Corey usually shouted just to make each other laugh. And Corey always made friends... Will from Virginia, Kim from Georgia, her partner-in-crime from Minnesota... and then they would get to know us the way she did. This time, it wasn’t just work-associates and students in my class. It was friends, Naomi! Mis amigos! I was out on the mountain with people that I actually cared about!”

Naomi watched me, gentle amusement in her eyes. She smiled to herself, looking first at the floor, then turning her gaze out the window.

“And that’s when you realize that it is never the place you miss. It’s the people.”

For a moment, I faltered, my jaw dropping slightly as the statement sank in.

“You don’t miss the beautiful mountain or that one cold chairlift or the café where you had hot-chocolate breaks. You miss the people who were with you and made those places stand out in your mind. You miss the friends you conquered the mountain with and the students you teased about being cold on that chairlift or the jokes made around the table during the hot-chocolate break...” she trailed off, a smile on her face, before turning to meet my gaze. She did not need to continue. I knew she was right.

With a chuckle, she jumped off the counter and pulled me into a hug.

“So don’t be so sad, Diego. You’ll be back there when summer comes around. Besides,” she pulled away, grinning at me, eyes shining, “you are one of those people that made the rest of us miss this place! So enjoy it while you’re here! I mean, if those Americans can make that place so special to you, then we Argentinos can certainly make this place special to you, right?” She winked at me, finally returning to her cooking, and I could not help but snicker.

The CD Corey and Will had bought me was still playing, “So it looks like you’ve found a way to reach my heart and take it all back to the start of this, though I’m a million miles from home.”

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