Picture an airport. Spend a lot of time thinking about it, considering it, being afraid to feel. You leave the house. This is the moment. All those things that seemed important to you up until now aren’t any more. No room for obsessions. Irrelevances won’t bother you now. They really don’t matter. 

A dock, or maybe a train station platform would be much nicer. But this is an airport and even the crowds and rampant consumerism can’t bother you.

You’re waiting for that person. The person who makes you feel good. Who asks no questions and even comes up with answers. 

You’re stood there, close to the Arrivals, Llegadas, Arrrivées sign. And you’re waiting for that person. Your mum, your dad, your partner, your sibling, a stranger you’ve been writing to for years, a friend.  

The person who makes the rest of the world fade away. You can give them a heartfelt hug without hang ups. Because you’re happy, the rest of the world no longer exists. That person. They’re coming. The doors open and people start to flow through. You know that it’ll be a little while longer. They’re feeling the same thing you are. 

You shift your weight from one foot to the other. You’re shut off from the petty highs and lows of the people around you. People leaving, passports in hand, lugging their suitcases, bags, packages, whatever, along with them. And there they are. It doesn’t matter how they’re dressed or what kind of suitcase they’re carrying. This is that someone, this is the moment. They’re coming. You’re going to meet them. You step away from the barrier and stand in the limbo area where there aren’t any lines to tell you how far you can go before encroaching on territory reserved for new arrivals. 

Here they are. Embrace.  

Copyright David Mibashan. Translated by Kit Maude.