Yesterday, Lorena and I drove her family members to the Logan Airport, and after they had cleared security, and we were about to return home, but she wanted to use the ladies room. So while she went on the lower floor, I just found a chair and watched people line up for security. Nothing out of the ordinary until an Oriental family came: a middle aged man (well dressed in a suit with a good looking carryon), his wife who was smartly dressed, good looking, along with their two cute daughters, maybe around 5 or 6 (I am really terrible with estimating age, particularly that of kids, since I am kid-free).
As the man was about to line up, he went to his wife, looked right into his eyes, gave her a sweet kiss on the lips, said something, waved his kids goodbye, and entered the line. I think he waved a bit after entering the line, but what happened after that caught my attention. Within a minute, tears started rolling down the eyes of the two girls. Within a minute or two they started to visibly sob. Their mother hugged them and comforted them. It was not too long before tears started to roll down her eyes as well. She was carrying a Dunkin Donuts brown bag and she opened it to get some paper napkins out, gave them to the kids and she took one as well, as they all wiped their tears. It was all so tender, so sweet, and emotional, that as a guy who can hardly be called emotional, I welled up and was about to cry. I had to almost contain myself for feeling so much emotion seeing two little girls crying just because their dad had gone somewhere leaving them behind.
I had no idea what was going on but it raised a lot of questions. Where was the man going? Most likely on a business trip. For how long was he going? Was it the first time that he was going on a trip that his kids were not going on? Did he promise to take them and then broke his promise? Why did he not give a hug and kiss to the kids? After all he kissed his wife very warmly? Would a hug and kiss have helped the kids in coping with the separation? Would the kids feel less bad or not bad at all if he had a short talk with them before leaving and then giving them a big hug that only a father can give?
Lorena soon returned and I saw the mother and daughters walk away holding hands and clutching their wet paper napkins. I told her about it and she guessed that the only reason the man made the goodbyes short was that he was afraid that he too would start to cry and it would have been a long and difficult goodbye. So like a man he just avoided, appearing strong, and detached, and hoped that maybe with a trip to their favorite restaurant later, the kids would do just fine.
As the man was about to line up, he went to his wife, looked right into his eyes, gave her a sweet kiss on the lips, said something, waved his kids goodbye, and entered the line. I think he waved a bit after entering the line, but what happened after that caught my attention. Within a minute, tears started rolling down the eyes of the two girls. Within a minute or two they started to visibly sob. Their mother hugged them and comforted them. It was not too long before tears started to roll down her eyes as well. She was carrying a Dunkin Donuts brown bag and she opened it to get some paper napkins out, gave them to the kids and she took one as well, as they all wiped their tears. It was all so tender, so sweet, and emotional, that as a guy who can hardly be called emotional, I welled up and was about to cry. I had to almost contain myself for feeling so much emotion seeing two little girls crying just because their dad had gone somewhere leaving them behind.
I had no idea what was going on but it raised a lot of questions. Where was the man going? Most likely on a business trip. For how long was he going? Was it the first time that he was going on a trip that his kids were not going on? Did he promise to take them and then broke his promise? Why did he not give a hug and kiss to the kids? After all he kissed his wife very warmly? Would a hug and kiss have helped the kids in coping with the separation? Would the kids feel less bad or not bad at all if he had a short talk with them before leaving and then giving them a big hug that only a father can give?
Lorena soon returned and I saw the mother and daughters walk away holding hands and clutching their wet paper napkins. I told her about it and she guessed that the only reason the man made the goodbyes short was that he was afraid that he too would start to cry and it would have been a long and difficult goodbye. So like a man he just avoided, appearing strong, and detached, and hoped that maybe with a trip to their favorite restaurant later, the kids would do just fine.