Day 12: Happy Homecoming

There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

It’s finally time to get things done and in a jiffy. It would be a total disgrace to let Rachel see that I had started a mission shortly after her departure only to leave it incomplete till her return, which was tonight!

Clearing the mess was many times more arduous than creating it. I spent the whole morning picking up the little things that seemed to belong to nowhere.

Angel spent the whole morning contemplating what to wear, which bag to match her clothes, which earrings to wear and which shoes to go with. Little lady already! She even charged her mobile phone fully so as to let Rachel have a chance to play with it the moment she touched down. Siblings’ love can really be as touching as siblings’ rivalry.

Mervin spent the whole morning deciding what toys to play, which game to put his hands on and which part of the wall to kick his ball onto. Men! I had to lay out all his clothes for him, place his shoes by the door and even bring his pullover for him. But he did spent some time in front of the mirror before he left the house in the late afternoon. He certainly gets his vanity genes from his father.

We had a sumptuous dinner at Jack’s Place before heading down to the airport. It was the first time my mother-in-law had ever tried western food and she was satisfied. Mervin and Angel finished every scrape on their plates too. The food was simply delicious.

At the airport, the two rascals unbelievably asked for more food to fill their tummies. Angel had two egg tarts and a bottle of apple juice while Mervin devoured a sugar roll, half a curry puff and a bottle of lemon juice. His black hole was overflowing, I think.

We were more than half an hour early for Rachel’s flight. While waiting, we spotted another teacher and many more parents. Time passed swiftly when we had company chatting one another up.

It was nearly impossible to pick Rachel out from a crowd of kids wearing all the same clothes. Nevertheless, I saw her through the glass window and waved madly at her. It took her almost a minute to notice me and wave back. My girl is back!

We left the airport after I completed my round of thanking the teachers-in-charge. Along the way home, Rachel entertained us with interesting tales of her exciting trip as well as the bad experiences she had with the people there. The trip had made her feel more appreciative to the things here back home, especially the food and people.

We reached home around eleven. After dealing with my bitchy Bitch, we settled in the girls’ room to uncover the things she brought back from China. Her acquisitions include a cuddly panda soft toy, a Doraemon comic book, a cute panda handphone charm, adorable wooden dolls which varied in sizes and are kept within one another, a beautiful glass bear handphone charm, tissue pouches, extraordinary magnetic pebbles and top-grade Chinese tea leaves from the infamous tea garden they visited. She also brought back a kite the school had presented them and a few other little gifts from her Chinese buddy.

We talked about everything till all of us get exhausted. One by one, the kids collapsed onto their beds. I still managed to stay up to finish reading her journal she kept during the whole trip, emptied all the dirty clothes into the laundry basket, and gather the stuffs Rachel left scattered on the floor into neat piles.

I conjured up my remaining willpower to crawl all the way to my bed and went straight into coma.