A day I'll never forget, a memorable moment... Growing up with my
mother, I had more memorable moments than I could count. She was an
amazing woman, with a heart of gold and a touch of magic that could
make pain from scraped knees or bumped heads vanish with a kiss. She
guided my brothers and I through all the dark storms and bright skies
of a life growing up, which made it all the more unbearable when she
left.
It was that moment, that memorable moment, no amount of time will
ever erase. Shortly after the divorce, my mother was accepted to
attend classes at a University in Adelaide, Australia. Being a stay-
at-home mom for fifteen years with no real work experience to put on
a resume, it was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up.
However when the day came, I was the only one who had made it to the
airport to see her off. My brother's had school that day so my mother
gave them a kiss goodbye the night before. For a long time, we sat
together in silence in the waiting room. I remember my throat
constricting tightly with the strong urge to cry, but I had promised
myself that I would remain intact when she left. She had asked each
of us several times if we had wanted her to stay, but we knew how
much this meant to her. A single yes and she would have sent off a
letter immediately to cancel her plans.
I wonder now, years later, if she could tell what I was thinking; all
the questions I had wanted to ask. How I had wanted to reason with
her, tell her there were other colleges or that the economy would get
better. In the end it all boiled down to a single phrase that rang
through my head and burned the tip of my tongue with how badly I
wanted to say it.
"Please, don't go..."
Yet when I finally opened my mouth to speak, the attendant at the
desk announced that they would now be boarding. I remember my resolve
breaking, rushing forward to hug my mother for what felt like the
last time. The phrase I had rehearsed over and over in my head
transformed into a strangled, "I love you."
She wrapped her arms around me and returned with the words that I
will carry with me for the rest of my life. "I love you to and want
you to always remember that love will never know distance. I will
always be there for you even if I am continents away."
She gave me a kiss on my forehead and grabbed her bags from next to
the seat. I still remember her face as she turned away to walk down
the hall to her plane, as if her worn features could reassure me that
she would return one day.
It was as if someone hit fast forward on my life after that, playing
through all the birthdays she would miss or the achievements I
wouldn't be able to share; the day I got my first car or the day I
left home... Yet despite being half a world away, I could always feel
her love. I guess you can truly separate a mother from her daughter.
For through either time or space, they always seem to find one
another.
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