Mom’s Travel Plans

Last month, we talked about mom’s travel plans. She had gotten Canadian visa and wants to visit my sister Minnie, in Alberta, Canada as well as Laly and the three girls in California. I have no objections on mom going to the States and Canada. But the rush and the timing seem to be wrong.

While I might not be able to understand how a mom feels on how much she misses her grandchildren and youngest daughter, but I can't understand or rather feel the anxiety of her traveling without a reliable companion.

She is not in tip-top health condition. She has “vertigo” which causes imbalance, which can cause her to fall. And we all know what a fall can do for someone’s brittle bones. She also has high-blood.

She would argue, “Di naman ako ganoon katanda.” But definitely, she doesn’t have the body of a 65 year old, when she visted Chief and I in Vietnam. Or three years ago, when she and Minnie and I went around HK.

The last time she traveled was to Bangkok, Thailand. But she was with a group of soroptomists. All senior citizens. But it was only a two-hour flight.

Going to North America is a long-haul flight. Plus, who will handle all the luggages she would carry? Knowing her, she would have a lot of pasalubong. I can’t imagine her running after her bags in the carousel. Even Cecile at her age has trouble lifting her bags on the carousel.

Mom will definitely need a reliable travel companion.

Earliest I can see her leaving is around mid-April. I told her that summer would be ideal as her grandchildren would be on summer vacation and she can spend as much time with them as possible and even go around California.

What I can’t understand is why she doesn’t want to make a trip to the East Coast and spend some time with Tito Rene, my dad’s elder brother. Am sure that visit would make my Dad very happy.

Or maybe, travel with Chief and I when we go to the States in December. Wouldn’t it be a most memorable sight to be spending Christmas in New York with Tito Rene and Tita Nenen and our first cousins, Renelle, Benjamin and Patrick. But Mom says she can’t let Violet and Miguel spend Christmas alone. “Silang dalawa na lang sa buhay.” Mom would explain.

“Bakit naiiyak ka?” she asked me when we were talking about her travel plans. I could also see some tears in her eyes as I know she misses the three girls and Minnie terribly. All part of beng a mother and a grandmother.

Maybe, when Chief and I are blessed with kids, we will understand parenthood even more.