Day 1: Departure

Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. ~Author Unknown

It only seemed like yesterday when we, or rather Rachel, were eagerly anticipating her Shanghai trip. Yet, we had to bid tearful (not ours) goodbyes today.

I woke up with my usual grouchy mood this morning despite the fact that Rachel would be leaving in the afternoon. I tried lifting my mood a little for her sake but to no avail. The attempt to lift the corners of my mouth only ended up in a twisted snarl.

The morning followed through with the routine hassling and nagging at the kids to get things done before it’s time for school. We left the house just in time as usual, leaving an exorbitant mess behind the closed door.

As Mervin and Angel proceeded to the school hall for their assembly, I followed Rachel to gather at the hard court with other pupils going on the Shanghai trip. We had another one and a half hour to go before the kids and the teachers leave by the coach.

I made a last minute check on Rachel’s luggage and found to our dismay that she had left her mobile phone charging at home!

“Never mind, in that case, you don’t have to call back home every day,” I tried to console her.

Sensing her silence and hesitance, I asked, “Do you really wish to bring the mobile phone?”

She nodded almost embarrassedly.

“Okay. Don’t fret. There is more than an hour to go. I can rush back home to get your mobile phone then get back here again in time,” I replied with an encouraging smile.

“But it’s so hot and you are wearing black… You’ll be drenched in perspiration,” her concern was genuine.

“No problem. I’ll be the Woman in Black to your rescue!” I chortled.

And off I went doing the least I could for my dear child for her most important trip in her life. I took a bus back, jogged all the way back, grabbed the mobile phone, and brisk walked all the way back to school.

I managed to accomplish my mission in less than half an hour!

As the time ticked by, a dreaded sense of loss crept up slowly within me. I had been telling other parents that I did not worry about my girl going overseas all by herself. But I was starting to feel unsure of myself.

“Will you miss me?” I probed.

Rachel shrugged carelessly. She was back to her cool self.

“I think I’ll miss you after all,” I murmured.

She chuckled nervously. It was then I thought I sensed it too. I chortled along with her.

When she finally boarded the coach, she did something out of ordinary. She waved to me till the bus went out of our sight. It nearly brought tears to my eyes just to see her reciprocating my concern like that.

However, that wasn’t the end of the story. I had decided and gotten the consent from my dear daughter the night before to send her off at the airport!

My sister-in-law and I managed to get to the airport at the same time the school team alighted from the coach in her car. After checking in their luggage, the teachers let the kids spent some time with their parents for the last half an hour.

We brought Rachel to McDonald’s for a quick nibble. We didn’t talk much. I just couldn’t help ogling longingly at her while trains of thought raced through my mind.

Before long, it was time to really bid goodbye. There were tearful goodbyes, quiet goodbyes, excited goodbyes, and some careless goodbyes. For Rachel and me, it was like my washing machine. It looked calm outside, but it was churning madly inside. At least it was for my case.

I stared at the glass panel till they really gone out of sight. Suddenly, there was a hollow feeling in my heart. It was like someone had dug a hole there. It wasn’t painful, but it felt empty.

Starting to countdown as from now.

Eleven days to go.