The automatic doors slide open and I walk through them to see a smattering of people waiting for other Arrivals. I turn left to head down the ramp, and see my mother scurrying towards me -- eyes focused straight ahead on her offspring.
"Thank God!" she says as she grabs both sides of my face and kisses my forehead.
"Mom! Stop it, you're embarrassing me!" I say half-complacently. She's making a bit of a scene, and I really don't feel like drawing any attention to myself. I just want to curl up and disappear.
She looks unapologetic; takes one of my suitcases, links arms with me, and we walk down the rest of the ramp.
"I'm glad to have you home," she says. She knows I'm tired. I don't feel like re-hashing what's happened. I prefer to stay silent.
At the bottom of the ramp await Aunt Nancy and Uncle Hank. They are probably the only two people who could make me laugh at this moment in time. They are...real characters to say the least. Funny...loving...gracious...
Aunt Nancy walks over to me and gives me a big hug. And then she begins,
"Don't you worry about nothin' darling. We're here to take you wherever you want to go." She says as she makes direct eye contact with me. It seems my mother and Aunt Nancy have concocted a "we're going to fix this" plan.
Uncle Hank smiles, walks over -- shoves Aunt Nancy aside and gives me a hug. He starts to speak.
Now...the thing about Uncle Hank (God love him) is that he gets excited when he speaks -- there's always a big smile, and his thick Newfie accent kicks in. For the whole time I've known him, I have never ever caught the first two sentences of anything he's said.
" [grumble garble grumble giggle] ...yer to and so I was thinkin' that it's nyaice to have yer home luv." He says with an even bigger smile.
He is a very kind man.
"So..." Aunt Nancy chimes, "Your Mom and I were talking, and we were thinking that instead of taking you back to your place downtown, or back to your parent's house -- we all thought that it would be nice if we could go somewhere; like a vacation."
A vacation does sound nice...
"Would you like that?" says my Mom as she pats my shoulder. I nod. I would like that...
"So anywhere you want to go is fine, do you want to go to someplace warm? Or maybe something exotic like northern Europe?" she says.
"Our bags are in the car." says my Mom.
I clue in. They mean right now...like, right now -- as in this instant.
"I don't really feel like jaunting around the world, I'm sorry. I just want to relax if that's ok..." I start, but Aunt Nancy has already come up with an alternative solution:
"Do you want to go to one of the cottages?" she asks.
Now; here's the thing about Aunt Nancy and Uncle Hank. They're rich. Stinking rich. You'd never know it to look at them, but they are. Uncle Hank struck it rich with some oil out East that was on land his family owned; and now -- they have palatial homes all over the globe.
I could do a cottage getaway...
I nod. Aunt Nancy notices that I'm wiped out -- I think they were so hellbent on making sure that I would vacay with them, that she accidentally overlooked my actual state: extreme fatigue.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaank!" Aunt Nancy yells even though he's standing just inches from her, "Karen's tired. See if we can rent a plane to take us to...where do you want to go dear?" she turns back to me.
I shrug, "Just not one with a pool," I say. She nods, makes a quick I've got this thing handled look to my mother, and turns back to Uncle Hank.
"Hank! Why are you still standing there? We need a friggen plane to take Karen to that one we bought last year."
Uncle Hank is slightly caught off-guard. He pulls out his blackberry -- but I don't think he was quite following her.
"[grumble, garble, giggle]...yer want dear?" he says.
"HANK!" she snaps back.
Some people look at us awkwardly as they walk by. I give them a half-smile. It's the first one I've done in days. I notice that my heartburn is a little less than what it was.
"Look at your niece! SHE'S TRAUMATIZED OK? So go and find us a friggen plane so we can get out of here!" she looks back at me and shakes her head and frowns her eyebrows like he's completely lost it.
Uncle Hank still looks a bit confused, so she turns back around.
"HANK! We're in an airport. Go find someone who wants to make some quick cash -- like a pilot that just got off duty or something; and hire us a plane. Now!"
He starts to laugh. He always laughs when Aunt Nancy gets excited.
He walks away, and Aunt Nancy turns back to me. She's completely worked up by now,
"Seriously, how hard is it? We're at a friggen airport...there's planes all around. We want a plane. It's not rocket science," she says and then laughs.
"Oh Nancy," chimes my mother, "I'm sure he just didn't hear you at first; that's all."
"I don't care if he didn't hear me, he knows his niece has just gone through hell and he can't figure out that we don't want to drive 6 hours north? Jeez -- like, do I really have to think of everything?" she says and then laughs harder.
They love their banter.
My mother rubs my back as we head towards a little cafe to await Uncle Hank's return. I have faith that we'll be on a private Jet within the hour. He loves Aunt Nancy so much, that...if need be -- he'd buy the whole airport just to keep her happy.
Needless to say, he's my favourite Uncle.
