It’s 7:45am and I’ve just left my apartment to pick up Yang and Aidan to take them to the airport. I live in a business section of town and even though it’s a weekday the road is mostly deserted. I turn right to cross Chaoyangmen Wai Da Jie (Chao Yang Gate Outer Big Street). and I see a young police officer and traffic cones. He says something to me that I don’t understand. I make a u-turn gesture and he says “ok, no problem.” I drive east to the next street that crosses and it’s also blocked. As is the next street east. There is no way to get across Chaoyangmen Wai Da Jie. A slight panic, maybe I can’t get there and Yang will need to call a Didi. Then it hits me, the second ring side road to the west goes under Chaoyangmen Wai Da Jie. I head there and find an almost empty safe passage.
All this fuss is for the 80th anniversary celebration of the end of WWII, or as it’s known here as the War of Resistance Against Japan. The celebration takes the form of a military parade down the main drag of Beijing, Changan Jie. I’ve been present for two previous military parades in Beijing, first in 2009 (60th anniversary of PRC) and 2015 (70th anniversary of end of WWII). For both parades, I watched on TV and could see the aircraft for the parade out the corner of my apartment window. For this one, I’d be at the airport.
I got to Yang’s apartment faster than normal. Aidan’s friend Dylan was hanging around as he had been on the last two end of summer flights. Yang and Aidan said their goodbyes to Yang’s mom, who is 94. The goodbye were filled with emotion masked by humor. Yang’s mom asked for Aidan to give her a hug. I couldn’t help thinking…
Yang wanted to head to the airport earlier than normal because of the potential for traffic delays as evidenced by the temporary blockades in her neighborhood. As it turned out, we made record time to the airport and they were four hours early for their flight.
This is the fourth time I’ve sent Aidan off to college. The first was during Covid in August 2022 and the travel complexities of that time. Lydia had flown back on her own a few weeks back. I enjoy the summers with them and wonder if we really know each other.
I was tired having not slept much the night before which is happening more frequently. After seeing them off, I spotted a subway sandwich shop and ate a half sub on the drive home. Roads were still somewhat blocked near my apartment, especially around the North Korean embassy. Seems the leader would be visiting. Once home, I crashed, then awake to watch the parade reply on Youtube. It was impressive.