Preparing to Disembark

I love the ferry.

And what's not to love? The smell of saltwater, the sounds of Puget Sound crashing against the boat, the Seattle cityscape in the approaching distance.

I was riding a ferry once......I'm not sure where, although I know it wasn't the Seattle ferry.......and as the boat neared its destination, an announcement came over the speaker system, "Please prepare to disembark."

For some reason, I always found this humorous. It was so formal. It suggested that many, many complicated details had to be addressed before leaving the boat when all most people did was turn the key in their car and drive off.

So even though the Seattle ferry does not make the "Prepare to disembark" announcement as we reach our destination, I always still hear it in my head.

On Saturday, I leave for NYC to spend two weeks with my daughter, who is graduating from her theatre conservatory. As I've learned from taking short trips to visit family, Mom doesn't deal very well with my leaving to go anywhere for longer than a few hours. Because of this, Dad and I both agreed not to tell her about my upcoming two week trip until we absolutely had to.

Today was the "absolutely had to" day.

The caregiver came over this morning to get checked out on the morning and evening routine. She has covered for me before. Mom and Dad both are very fond of her and I know that they're in excellent hands. Nevertheless, because the caregiver was here this morning, Mom asked the obvious question, "Are you going somewhere?"

To which I answered, "Yes Mom, I'm going to NYC."

To which she asked (after a rather lengthy pause), "When are you leaving?"

To which I answered (after throwing a glance to the caregiver), "Saturday night."

Then, like any well-trained Pavlovian dog, my mother squeezed her eyes shut, pressed her face together, and sobbed.

That was four hours ago. Since then, I have had to: search for the tv remote four times; search for Mom's Afrin twice; and answer three wails for apparently no reason at all.

As of today, I am preparing to disembark.