“We are late. Hurry up!” yelled my mother angrily.

It was a beautiful morning of our much-awaited summer vacation! My family and I had planned to spend all two months of the summer vacation in America. My mum, brother and aunt did all the necessary documentation and applied for the visa. In due time, we were shopping and planning where we would be going in America. When our visas arrived, we wasted no time and packed our luggage, and soon we arrived in America.

I had always wanted gift cards of my favourite game, Fortnite, which I could not get in Pakistan, so I was looking forward to getting them in America. My mum promised me that she would buy me the cards as soon as we got there.

We visited amazing places there and were having a great time, but I couldn’t fully enjoy myself because I kept thinking about my cards, which I had still not bought.

I thought mum would remember how desperate I was to get the cards, but seeing her busy with other things just increased my worries. Therefore, I decided it was better to remind her before it would be too late. Once when we were out shopping and mum was buying clothes from a shop with my aunt, I went up to her and reminded her about my Fortnite cards. She looked at me with a puzzled expression that told me she had forgotten about it.

So after she was done with her shopping, she went to the nearest convenience store to get me the cards. Unfortunately, we were told that the gift cards were out of stock.

I was devastated and felt like crying. Mum said that I should not worry as she would not stop searching until she got me the cards. It gave me hope.

We toured all of Florida and even went on a cruise to the Bahamas. My mum kept inquiring about the cards at every store, but it was my bad luck that I couldn’t find them anywhere.

All through the trip, I remained depressed and gloomy until one day when my aunt told me that we were going to one of our cousin’s house. I was reluctant because nothing excited me without the cards. But when we arrived, my joy knew no bounds as I discovered that my cousin Ali, who was a bit older than I was, was also a gaming addict like me. Throughout the trip, I had never felt so happy as I felt at that moment.

Ali told me something that changed my mood for good. He said that we do not specifically require Fortnite gift cards; instead, we can just use PlayStation gift cards in Fortnite. I was overjoyed and got some at the first convenience store.

And yes, that was something I really wanted. Our vacation ended, and we were packing our bags to go back home. I was excited to return home, unlike my mum, brother and aunt, who seemed to want to stay longer.

When I reached Pakistan, I realised that I had been a bit over dramatic and let my negative feelings took over me due to not getting my favourite cards, which stopped me from feeling the real joy of traveling and having fun with family. Well, this experience taught me that one should never hold back from enjoying what you have for something you don’t have at the moment, which may or may not be possible. But at least it was a good ending for me!

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 13th, 2024