Following a “one more
time” of minimal sleep, we awoke to find the United website being singularly
unhelpful about arrival times for any aircraft on the planet.
It was early enough to
have an entirely uneventful drive to Newark Airport, and before long we were
parked and plopped down on the little shelf around one of those columns in the baggage
claim area ready to patiently wait and read until our third family member
arrived.
The other one of us has
far less experience picking people up from international flights and was
constantly jumping up to check the boards.
Rosa sent a text
indicating they’d landed, and we knew to hold our position as it would be
pointless to leap up and lose our spots due to the inevitable delays in
reentering the country.
Well…one of us knew it.
During the long period
we stood there staring at people we didn’t know exiting the international
arrivals thingy, I reminded Anabelle of the customs, immigration, and baggage
claim areas we went through two years previously.
We found a couple of
open chairs and leaned on each other for a well needed and likely adorable
looking nap in the company of a lost pigeon.
Once Peruvian looking
folks began to emerge we stood up again, allowing Anabelle to get a good
running leap when she yelled, “MAMI!!!!”
We drove home happy and
tired, and I unloaded the car.
Besides the usual yummy
Peruvian snacks she brought, including several packs of Kraps for entertainment
purposes was a surprise.
Rosa had plans to bring
books and other items from her old home to her new home, but found she suddenly
lacked room. This was because Abuelita learned her new son liked these Peruvian
gumdrop candies and sent me thirty cases.
No that wasn’t a
typo.
I love that woman, but she left me little choice but to ether need to increase my exercise time and dental insurance, or
come up with a craft project.
We had our little
present presentation ceremony, with all the souvenirs from our Ad-veeeeen-tures
*jazz hands,* the owl painting, jewelry for Anabelle and shirts for me.
We topped it off with a
Bembos lunch. THANX HONEY!!!!
The woman next to Rosa
on the plane declared a cooked cuy, and had no problem. If bringing a roasted guinea pig didn’t freak
out the customs inspector, next time she’ll just mention the burgers are cooked
instead of packing them in hermetically sealed eight layer wrappings, under
some clothes marked “biohazard.”
We relaxed for a bit, unpacking, Choppeding and resting.
Rosa got some horrible
news that Conchito, the woman who cut her hair growing up, and Anabelle’s on
our visit, had passed away. Not the way
to end a trip, but it made Rosa extra glad that she’d visited her and called
her from the airport.
This is why I spend my
fictional watching and reading time with uplifting Sci-Fi and Fantasy. It’s due to an aversion to learning sometimes
the ending sucks in real life. I comforted her as much as I could.
That night, I used my
non Christmas Eve Chinese food allowance of the year for our traditional return
dinner at Hunan Taste. (Note for anyone
keeping score: Communion parties don’t
count.)
After dinner was a night
of more nappage, more Choppedage, and
more enjoying having the three of us together for the first time in a long
while…age.
2 comments:
Very cool about the Peruvian gum drops. Are they very different from the ones we get here?
You're very good at writing about family love, because I felt very relieved when you were all back together in the same city...same house.
At times I could feel the sadness of the homesickness-mommy-missing-separation woes, etc.
It sounds like you guys managed to have some fun, though. I enjoyed reading it.
They gum drops had kind of a tang to them and were a little "stiffer" if that's the right work. Maybe because they use real sugar instead of chemicals. (I have no idea, I'm guessing, that's a common difference.)
Thank you very much. We did have a good time, but we do have better ones all together usually. You're family dynamic seems similar when you're all together.
I try to slap a veneer of comedy over everything, I am impressed by they way you write with full honesty from the heart about your adventures.
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