|
9:50 AM, June 24, 2003
After exiting the international flight area, I found Niña and her aunt and uncle sitting out in the waiting area. None of them were chatting, and Niña looked like she was waiting to hear a the outcome of a jury trial. As I approached her, she smiled – but as she had been doing on the whole ride to the airport, she was avoiding direct eye contact with me. On the ride into the airport, the van was silent and I kept looking at Niña’s reactions. All morning she had been somewhat quiet, but also very calm. As I looked at her, I noticed her cheek quivering a bit. She leaned over to me and without looking at me she whispered, “Please do not look at me - you will make me cry.” So here we are in the airport, and she again could not look at me because she was going to cry. This made me very happy, and terribly sad at the same time. I was happy because I knew how much she cared for me just by the way she was trying to be strong and failing somewhat – and sad because it too made me want to cry. We both knew it would be, at the very best, several months before we would get to see each other again – and after the last 12 days, it seemed unimaginable.
We sat there in the airport, just quietly holding each others hands. I looked around at the shops there – a money exchange, a store for acoustic guitars (Cebu is the acoustic guitar capital of the world), a store where you could buy things to eat including the dried mango that I have grown so fond of, a clothing store. Niña’s aunt and uncle had found a relative to talk to while we sat there – a cousin and friends who were traveling somewhere… This was the same relative who had helped us with trying to get Niña to Aruba at the travel agency where they seemed to know nothing at all about traveling. They chatted away as Niña and I sat there. Making small talk. Saying “I love you” and “I miss you already”. I Niña asked what time must I go through immigration and go to the plane. I told her I would go at 11:00. She seemed disappointed that I would go at that time, but they had already made one announcement for my flight – that if you had checked in and had a boarding pass that you should proceed through immigration and enter the boarding area. Being the somewhat anxious traveler that I am, once this announcement was made I was certain it was for me, and this made me anxious to get to the plane. The reality is that I wanted to stay there in Cebu for weeks more if I could, but since I was going back I just wanted to get on the plane and get it over with - Get home and sleep in my own bed, see my bird and my cats, eat some of my standard staple foods.
<< Go Back or Continue the Journey - Next >>
|
