I arrive at Yang’s apartment at 3:30pm to drop off our dog Kobe before heading to the airport to pick up Elisa. I need to drop off Kobe because he is a very anxious dog. Dogs taking on the characteristics of their keepers is not lost on me.
Elisa’s flight doesn’t land for a while so I sit and visit with her grandma a bit. I also look at my phone. Grandma asks what time Elisa lands, I say 7pm. She then declares I will have dinner with her. I say I will leave for the airport soon. That we all can have dinner when I get back from the airport, around 9pm. She then asks again what time Elisa flight lands and then once again declares I will have dinner first. We go in this circle a couple more times. Eventually she asks the ayi to prepare dinner for 8pm.
I have time. I have a lot of time in the small time sense. Sabrina and Amanda are in Xiangyang and have been there for a week. I decided not to go to her hometown since it would involve taking Kobe which would have meant two full days driving. I was pretty spent from all the travelling during our US vacation. Vacation as work. I miss them.
So, I’ve been home for a week on my own. I get a sense of what retirement would be like had I not had a child in my late 50s. I eat. I sleep. I watch videos. I read. I use AI to code. I exercise. I walk the dog. Kobe follows me around the apartment and whines when it’s time for him to eat or go outside. It is clear who the master is.
I wait at the airport for like 2.5 hours for Elisa. I don’t mind. I listen to podcasts. I have a subway sandwich. I have some coffee which I don’t need. I haven’t been sleeping well so I feel a bit on edge, I walk. I sit. I stand at the gate looking for her.
And then Elisa’s out. 34 hours since she left her mom’s Toronto apartment. She looks fresher than me. Her brain sharper. Nice to be 17. Grandma sends me a photo of Kobe barking.
Traffic is light for a Friday night and we walk into Yang’s Beijing apartment just before 9pm. Dumplings are served. I eat a lot which Grandma notes happily. By 10:30pm, I am back to my own apartment, Kobe on the coach next to me with an episode of a TV drama on. This is what being alone is like. I mean being retired.