D-Days
Aug 12, 2007
Departure-Day... Today is the day. This evening, I'm heading up to LA to begin my long journey to Aotearoa, another name for New Zealand which means Land of the Long White Cloud in the native Maori language (trivia answer, save it). Talking about trivia, my sister and I went to Dave & Busters last night and kicked ass in the trivia game. Of course we cheated by teaming up to find the answers, though it only worked because of our combined breadth of knowledge (and the utter stupidity of the other players)
Diana-Day... that morning, Diana flew out to return to New Mexico. It was a really early flight, so we tried to pull an all-nighter and play guitar into the wee hours of the morning. At around 4AM, the notes on the screen were nothing but a blur, and every time I shut my eyes between rounds, it would take the blast of music to get them to open up again. Diana set her alarm for a half hour nap... 2 hours later, Su woke us up, IT'S SIX O'CLOCK! We were so passed that we slept through the alarm. The flight was at 6:50... we flew to the airport, but it was a lost cause. Poor Diana had to take another flight to Albuquerque and take a $300 taxi back to her home in Clovis!
Dad-Day... The night before, we drove up to LA to visit some relatives. A parade of aunts and uncles who remembered me as a toddler stopped by the house to meet us. They got all emotional and reminiscent. Of course I have no recollection of them, so it was a bit awkward to be hugged by people who were strangers to me. It was especially strange meeting my father whom I haven't seen in over a decade. The main thing I noticed was that he was shorter and had grayer hair than I remembered. He didn't make much direct eye contact. Few words were said between us; there just wasn't much to say. The whole Le Clan went to restaurant, and I was just happy that I got a free meal out of the whole ordeal.
All in all... it's been a pretty strange week. A lot of reunions and a lot of goodbyes. It reminded me that you only have one family. They are part of you for life for better, for worse, forever.
Next post will probably be from Auckland... granted no problems with immigration... and the plane doesn't tumble out of the sky in a ball of flames.
The most complete family photo in a long time ever.