Hanging one last time with my buddies in NYC, 8/17/02
2AM EST August 25, 2002 Goodbye USA
Wasn’t
too long ago that I was flying Evergreen (now Eva) Airlines to the Taiwan “Love
Boat”, writing, “The seats are green.
The blankets are green. The
pillows are green,” and now I’m looking around and it’s exactly the same. Maybe I’m on the same plane as I was
seven years ago...yikes.
I’d
been packing and reorganizing and repacking all day yesterday and today. Got into brief arguments with Mom, and
Dave. I could tell I was getting
strained, nervous, and feeling guilty about not spending more time with Mom and
Dad, and about Dave driving down to NJ again for the third weekend in a row for
me. At lunch, Mom, Dad and I
finally sat together to eat and talk.
Dad could tell I was feeling the parting pains because he said, “Huai
Yue,” in that way that means he’s going to tell me some very wise, Scott Wang
advice:
“Huai
Yue. Ten months goes by very
fast. Remember you asked me in
eighth grade if you can quit piano, and I said Yes in 2 years, and you cried,
‘Waa! Two years so long!’ And went very fast, right? Remember in 10th grade, you
got braces, they said you will have them for two years, and again you crying,
‘Two years so long!’ Then, two
years went so fast, right? So
remember…Ten months go by very very fast!”
“Yeah, I
know,” I said and ran
back to my room to keep packing. In a minute he called, “Huai Yue, wait
come back! Have to tell you
something!” I came back to the
table, “What?”
“Ten
months go by very fast!”
“OK, I get
it, I get it!”
Dave and Pete arrived at 7 to take me to Newark
airport. I’d quickly scribbled a
letter to Dave and put it in the tin box I got in Europe, shoved it in my
pocket to give him at the last moment.
Avani called, she’d just woken up and when I said I was leaving in
literally a few minutes, she rushed over in her sweats and T-shirt—I never saw
her move so fast! She’d brought me
another bag of chocolates.
Dave
and Pete struggled so much with the luggage that I’m afraid of how I’ll manage
them when I get to Taiwan by myself. I said my goodbyes to Mom, Dad and Avani. Mom and Dad will be coming to Taipei in
10 days anyway.
On
our way to the airport we had dinner at Jim Johnston’s Steakhouse. Dave said steak was a good to have for
my last meal here since it wasn’t good or very available in Taiwan. At EWR the check-in lady told me one of
my bags was too heavy but would let me go “this time,” but my carryon was
almost double the weight limit—12kg when it had to be under 7kg. We went aside to “repack” it. The guys told me to just take out stuff that Pete would put
in his own backpack, let her re-weigh, then put the stuff back in after we left
the check-in area. It was then 7.2kg and she accepted it, saying “Make
sure you don’t put back the things you just removed” as I walked off. Rounded the corner and we put the stuff
back in.
Dad
called my cellphone—now officially Dave’s. I told him we got here OK and I’d checked in. Just before hanging up he said, “Wait,
wait! Huai Yue, have to tell you
something!”
“What?”
“Want
to tell you, ah…Ten months goes by very fast!”
We
sat at an eatery where they got drinks but I didn’t get anything. My stomach wasn’t feeling good and plus
I was a little worried about my re-loaded bag not getting through—what if they
stopped me just before boarding and confiscated it? We talked for about two hours, my heart sinking each minute
that passed that was my last with Dave.
Finally at 11:45 I went to the bathroom, and when I came back Pete
suggested I have a chocolate. I
said No, my stomach is queasy, but he kept coaxing me to eat one, finally
looked in the bag himself and asked, “What’s that?” and shoved it toward
me. I peered in and saw wrapped in
ribbon, a tiny box in an unmistakable shade of eggshell blue. Inside I was psyched yet cautious. Did he really get me Tiffany? As I opened it they started BS-ing,
“Wow, Avani put that in your chocolates?
What a nice friend,” etc etc.
It was a beautiful silver necklace with a pendant shaped like an
infinity symbol. Dave helped me
put it on and said it’s the one they recommended and is a popular style. All I thought was, Jewelry, yay! Jewelry, good.
They
walked me to the passenger-only point.
We hugged and I gave Dave the letter box. It was in the same crinkled paper bag it came in from Venice
and by now looked so worn, he asked, “What’s this, an English muffin?” I said “Sorry, it’s not nearly as
expensive as what you gave me.”
I
walked on, turning back often, they stood and watched and waved until I was on
the people-mover and people were blocking them from sight. My steps felt slow and heavy (maybe
from the 12kg bag). In a way, it
was good Pete was there so we couldn’t be too sad, so I wouldn’t cry.
My
bag and I made it through. As the
engines throttled and the plane sped up, the wind whipped against the window
and streaked and wiped away the fog and condensation, revealing the city view,
and the engines’ roar sounded like a drum roll. And for the first time in weeks, I truly relaxed. I’m on my own now and don’t know what’s
coming, and it’s a thrilling feeling, because I know it’s going to be OK…no,
really great…