hello goodbye
Beginnings and endings can be difficult. We tend to like what's known and what's comfortable, so obviously the start of a new job, the start of a new school, meeting new people, moving, graduating, and saying goodbye are not necessarily the easiest things to do.
In one of my favorite blogs, Life of a Witty Widow, Chelsea Westra writes about how she heard once that we have to "live the dash," as in, the important part of life is not the date of birth or the date of death, it's the hyphen that joins the two. I guess in a similar way I view the important parts of relationships are not in just our hellos and goodbyes, but all that develops in-between.
This week we said hello to Catherine and Anny, two girls from China who will be living with us this school year. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking meeting them for the first time.
Last Friday we left for the airport about 15 minutes later than I'd planned to pick up Anny. We soon realized that the highway was closed and took a detour, bringing us to the airport ten minutes after her plane landed. I jumped out of the car and ran toward the ticket counter, only to find a long line, so I asked a man in baggage security who was looking bored, if he knew where I was to go to pick up an unaccompanied minor. He suggested the ticket counter. Several minutes later we were being issued our passes. The ticket agent needed my kids' names and birthdays to issue their passes, and I froze on Kate's middle name. I think I stood there with my mouth open for a minute before Elia said, "Jayne!" Of course, I said, "J-a-n-e." Elia corrected my spelling, and I said, 'They are my children!" Ticket lady couldn't stop laughing. (It wasn't that funny). Then we rushed to the security line, which curved back and forth around to the one agent working . (Oh, there was one other guy next to him, but he was waiting for first class passengers only, of which there were none, so he just sat there annoyingly.) Anyhow, Greg, Kate Jayne, and Elia made it through the screening but I was stopped by a stern lady who asked me to take a look back at a sketch of a person with a red square on her crotch. "Do you see where the red square is?" she said. I nodded solemnly. "That's where I need to search you." Then she proceeded to talk for 5 minutes explaining in great detail what she was going to do to me. I almost screamed, "Yeah, whatever, just do it!" but instead I told Greg and the girls to go on ahead without me. When I eventually caught up with them, we wandered the Delta terminals looking for a lonely girl. Turns out, they don't post the arrival flight information, as people most likely know where they've come from, so I found the only ticket agent I could and asked where I'd pick up a unaccompanied minor, and she pointed to Gate C. We ran over there, waited for several minutes, but wondered if we were mistaken because it was now an hour after Anny's flight was scheduled to land, and the gate was full of people ready to board their plane. So, I ran back to the ticket lady and she, super-snotty-like, said that I was to go back to Gate C. Thanks Lady. Anyhow, we waited a bit more, until finally, our Anny came off the plane. I gave her a big hug (I'm starting to notice that they don't hug as much in China as we do here) and we were finally off!
Last Sunday, we went to pick up Catherine and her mom Jenny. We pulled up to the airport right on time, met them at the terminal 3 minutes later, grabbed their bags (which were waiting for us) and we were back in the car all within 10 minutes tops.
It's an odd feeling meeting someone who will be living with you for a year! We have given them a tour of our home, our city, showed them how to do their laundry, noticed some cultural differences, noticed some cultural similarities, and played some games. They seem to be catching my jokes, so that's good! Elia is a non-stop wealth of knowledge, and Greg is a non-stop wealth of questions.
Tuesday night we went out to eat and to the beach before I brought Jenny back to her hotel. I gave her a hug, and as I told her we'd take good care of her daughter, my voice caught. I can only imagine leaving my daughter in a different country for months on end. I got in the car to let her say goodbye to Catherine, but couldn't help but notice that neither one cried. (So it was just me then.) At any rate, as I drove off, with Catherine and Anny in the car, I waved to Jenny out the passenger window, and turned to look at the road ahead...ready to begin our in-betweens.