Home

I hugged mum and did not let go for a long time. Uncontrollably tears started to well in my eyes. I could not speak, for speaking would betray my tears and probably cause me to break and cry more.

 It was an emotional, overpowering meeting, nothing I could have imagined more beautifully, more touchingly. All that time since the moment I (clandestinely in the forest...) booked my flight, I have been imagining waiting for this moment to come. And it was finally here.

Mum is with me, I am with her. She is in my arms, I can feel the warmth of her body. This is real, not a dream, not a fantasy. The long, long flights across the ocean, the sense of being fatigued and numb, even to the comforts of being upgraded to business class, began to thaw in mum's embrace.

I could feel again. feel the care and love flow through me and I imagined into her body. I took her by the hand, the one that gets so sore and painful without medication, and I held onto it.

I of course cannot feel what she feels, but I imagined my grasp, my hand taking some of that pain away. Every little bit helps, every little bit makes it all the less... It is one of the reasons why I am here.

"Mum, I'm home..."