Halfway Around The World

It was still dark and cold when I woke up that dawn, late in the year. I hurried to get ready for a trip that will bring forth the new change in my life. After I prepared myself and had a warm meal, I sat in the living room of the family house [about five hours (including traffic) away from my hometown and home, southward, in a valley, and closer to the international airport] where our family usually spent some summers and holidays in, looking at the two three-feet red/blue luggage, sitting by the doorway. Other than those two things that held my possessions, I had nothing more to bring but myself and the lessons and memories that I had in me.

The night before, I traveled from the valley house to the capital city, particularly the University Belt -a place I barely went to in college since my school was in another but a very close-by Metro Manila city- to meet and have a dinner with a couple of high school classmates and friends, who, because their semesters to that day were still going, were not able to attend the after-the-semester get-together dinner party for my high school friends back home more than a week past.

While wondering by myself, our ride called and told me that he was ready to pick us up. My (older) sister and I then rode the car and zoomed to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Manila). A couple of hours later, it was time for me to leave the country. After a while, I, had the last glimpse of my sister and moved on to walking, leaving everything and everyone behind me. The fifteen minutes I spent checking in and walking seemed like a day.

As I was checking in, my heart began to beat as fast as a festival parade drum beat that makes people dance. It was not beating that way because of nervousness towards flying. In fact, I consider flying as a great part of my budding life. Flying took me to places where I could unwind with my family, where I would perform family duties and where I would spend time to mingle, to learn and to grow with my other colleagues (schoolmates/then fellow student leaders). What made my heart pump that way was that that flight to another foreign country would not deliver me to a very certain place or to certain (short-term) activities but to a new kind of life which was still somehow hidden/veiled in darkness from and unknown to me and that if in the past, I sat with my parents, siblings, a classmate, or a colleague, that time, I would be sitting beside a total stranger or beside no one at all.

After that part, I walked towards the plane. That walk to the plane could not seem to be any longer. With a backpack and another handcarry, I paced through the tunnel-like passage directing to the plane's entrance. I was alone. Then, the stewardess greeted, "Welcome aboard!", as I approached the plane's door. She, then, checked my passport, ticket, and boarding pass. I was probably the last to board the plane. I walked to my designated seat, passing through some seats. Some were empty and some had persons on them: some were middle-aged, some grey, a couple were new mothers with their fragile and curious babies on their laps but I saw no one who shared my age. When I found my seat, I placed my bags in a cabinet on top of my blue and gray chair. Then, I sat, buckled myself and leaned on my back to relax. I realized that I was sitting beside no one at all.

After some minutes, the plane taxied around the taxiway. After a couple more minutes, the pilot accelerated the plane. The engine got louder once we were in the runway and finally, I felt the airplane's wheels touched off the ground. We took off. I was on my way half way around the world (to NYC).

To be continued...