Sunday, January 6, 2008

Leaving

Ours is the century of enforced travel. . . of disappearances. The century of people helplessly seeing others, who were close to them, disappear over the horizon. -John Berger

I am leaving again tomorrow. Another work trip, this time to Hong Kong and China for one week. In normal adult time a week is not long. But in those seven days I will miss Zoey laughing approximately 230 times. I will miss 4 baths, 43 renditions of Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques (Dormez-moo, dormez-moo?) and 12o,ooo blueberries stuffed into my mouth by sticky, pudgy fingers. Of course I can always ask the people in the factories I am visiting to feed me blueberries one by one, but Chinese people generally have very thin fingers, so it just wouldn't be the same.
I will also miss one of my closest friends giving birth. She is due to be induced on January 11th. This is my dear friend who is also my colleague. The only other times I have been to Asia have been with her. We have talked at length about our bowels in Hong Kong, in Shenzhen, in Delhi. We have feasted on a dinner at a chocolate dessert bar in Bangkok pretending that we were Sara and Becky from The Little Princess. (Of course that also might help to explain the need for intestinal discussions.) She is my travel-sized Thumbelina, happily typing away on my Blackberry in moving cabs so that I don't get car sick. This time I am going with a good group of colleagues, but travel poo talk with them? I get backed up just thinking about it.
And of course there will be no blogging from the Asia.So I leave tomorrow. Hoping that Zoey is not shaped by my repeated leaving. Guiltily looking forward to the 16 hour flight in first class. 16 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Of the slow drip of Unisom time, watching movies and reading and drooling. Me-time on Cathay Pacific.
168 hours until I return.
...The electricity went out before Susannah could finish this post, before she could edit it even. The power was still out when she left for China so she asked me to just send this as it is. She'll be back in one week! -Bryan

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