My mom had not left the country since 2008. In fact, she hadnt so much as left the state of New York since 2015. This was because my dad, God rest his soul, had reached a point of severe immobility by that year. It had gotten to the point where Mom needed to hire home health aides help him simply get up in the morning and get to bed at night. It was a lot for my mom to handle on her own, so I did what any dutiful son would have done. I moved back home from Texas to help out in any way I could. But still long trips and journeys for them out of the question.
However this year, one peaceful summer morning, my dad passed on and departed on a fantastic spiritual journey of his own. We were sad to see him go, but all things, even the best of things, to an end. In that moment two souls were released. My dad was finally free from the body that to betray him. And my mom was now free from the burden of care and was ready to
Mom and I had a lot of tasks to get in the next few months. However, before getting started we bought plane tickets to fly to the United Kingdom at the end of October. The trip would be for three weeks and stretch into November. This booking simultaneously gave us a deadline for when we needed to everything and a reward at the end.
We chose the United Kingdom because of all the family we have there. My uncle lives in a flat in London, my cousin and his family lives in Edinburgh, and there is a house on a beach in County Fife that has been in our family since the 1500s. The choice as you can see was a simple one. When one family member passes on, surround yourself with more members. To be able to do so in such renowned settings as London and Scotland was a precious gift.
Our plane descended into London in the middle of the night. There was a confusing new immigration system at Heathrow and we both wound up getting shifted into separate queues. I sailed through easily, but
after waiting around a while I realized that was I still all alone. I peered over the immigration booths only to discover that Mom had withdrawn herself to the middle of the immigration hall. She was frantically scrabbling through her bag. Oh my God! Mom had lost her passport!
I dont know if what I did next was even legal, but I went back into the immigration hall. There was no way I was going to leave Mom there to fend for herself. Sure enough she could not find her passport. Luckily with some joint searching we managed to unearth her passport from amongst her possessions and were on our way.
The plan was to stay in my Uncles flat, but not wanting to make our way into central London so late at night we had booked an airport hotel right in the terminal. However, the hotel turned out to be in a different terminal and we spent over an hour wandering to and fro in various underground garages and parking lots asking bemused airport maintenance men if they could please point out the way there. Things were looking bleak. I was wielding both my moms and
my luggage, Mom was cratering in jet lag desperation, and I was having doubts that maybe this trip wasnt such a good idea. However, eventually and quite miraculously the fog of late arrivals lifted and the way became clear. Seldom, have I felt more relieved to climb into a hotel bed. Lights out. Goodnight Heathrow.
Next morning and feeling brand new, we hopped into a cab bound for my uncles flat in Chelsea. I had stayed with my uncle back in February, but Mom still hadnt seen his new flat. Uncle Walt greeted us exuberantly at the door. He was so happy that my Mom, his sister, had made the trip this time. He kept showing her all his precious things around the flat exclaiming, I cant believe youre actually here.
From staying with him back in February, I knew that Uncle Walt was not the best one for planning daily things to do. So I knew to plan things ourselves. Before the trip Mom had mentioned that she would love to have a traditional High Tea service in London.
