Leaving on a Jet Plane

Early this morning, at about 4:00 AM, I got up after about an hour's worth of shut-eye to join the trip to the airport to see off my brother and his two little girls.

In two vehicles we went convoy style, a van with most of the family and 3 balikbayan boxes, and a car with my bro and his friends. The two girls, Pam and Pat, sat with two of their cousins in the rear seat of the van, while me, my parents and my sister and her husband sat up front before them. We engaged each other in various conversation, but it was impossible to ignore the girls in the back seats as they alternately laughed and cried. The cousins were naturally very close and I guess is was finally dawning on them that it would be a while... a long, long while, before they conceivably would meet again. My mom tried to cheer them up continually with jokes that if she won the Lotto, we'd be there to visit in the US in a second.

We got to the airport and it was a blur of motion then. We unloaded the boxes, and quick farewells were given. Me and my brother hugged and he told me to take care of our parents. The girls were almost speechless and could only half-smile and hold back the tears as they went off into the terminal and on to the future.

The long drive home was brightened only slightly by a breakfast from McDonald's. But of course, all of us had our own internal thoughts.

I didn't shed any tears, but I felt the leaving inside. I'll miss having the kids around and pestering me (a bit). I'll miss having my brother around and being a kindred fan of tech, toys, games and dvds. In a way, we were always distant, but in many other ways we were so very close.

Of course, being far away need not mean out of touch. I'm going to have to keep busy soon, fixing up my mom with the PC my brother left behind, getting a broadband internet connection so we can keep the lines of communication close. Darn, I feel like I'm in one of those telecom ads. Well, it's only now that I finally identify with those maudlin commercials.

By now, they're probably halfway there. Good luck and God Bless, Jun, Pam and Patricia. I'll see you all again someday.