Sneaking Away

M finally got my email a few hours later. He Skyped me immediately. 

"Tell me you are at the airport and you are coming?!"

I stared into the computer screen, tears again...

Then M got upset. I begged him not to be upset with me. Turns out he wasn't! He was upset with his mom. He was so sad she had managed to talk me out of being on an airplane that second. He wanted me there. He missed me. He still loved me. I felt like I could breathe again. We sat on Skype and he booked me a ticket for the next morning - Friday at 6:15 am connecting through somewhere in Texas. It would be a short trip but well worth it. We talked on Skype for a bit longer. He showed me the condo and the gardens over the computer. He told me reading my email was the saddest thing he'd ever had to do. He had actually arrived at the place and was supposed to go to Wal-Mart with his dad to go get some stuff for the place, but when he saw the title of my email he knew he needed to stay in and read it and resolve it.

That night my sister came over with her husband. They tried to make me dinner. I wasn't hungry. I was too busy thinking about how I was going to tell my family I was disappearing for the weekend. They wouldn't understand it if I told them I was going to Mexico for the weekend. They'd say I was nuts to travel so far for such a short time, they'd say it was too expensive, they'd say I was prolonging the hurt, maybe they'd even say it wasn't safe. It didn't matter because I wasn't telling them. I knew they would try to stop me. 

I told everyone that I was going to B's cottage for the weekend. That I wanted to be out of the city for the next few days. Everyone seemed ok with it. No one wanted to be around the sad A. The only condition: I had to be back for Sunday night dinner - the last one before I left. 

Sunday night dinners were tradition with my family: the entire extended family on my dad's side would get together at my grandmas and she would cook for us. Over the years with the boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives and babies that were added dinner frequently hit 20-25 people. If you were in the city or even near the city and didn't go, you could expect a severe tongue lashing from my grandma - so severe, in fact, that it was never worth missing dinner. We all knew it. And to be honest, none of us liked to miss dinner. We loved to see each other. Catch up once a week and stay in each other’s lives. Having lived out of the country and away from home for so long, I especially loved Sunday night dinners and knew my presence was not optional - especially since I was leaving yet again. 

I had anticipated this - my ticket had me leaving early Sunday morning so I would be back in time. That's right... I arrived Friday at 2 pm and left Sunday at 9 am. 

Some might begin to reconsider going. I was resolute. 

A 6:15 am flight meant leaving my house by 4 am. The question was how to get out of the house... My mom was out of town, so she was easy enough to evade. My dad had an appointment downtown at 7, so I'd have to be out long before he woke up to get ready and somehow make sure he didn't come in to say goodbye. My brother slept like a bear in the dead of winter so I wasn't too worried about him.

I spent the night hanging out with my dad in his room and after he fell asleep I made sure the alarm was off for the night. Setting off the alarm was a sure fire way to wake my dad. Press one button and he was up. EXCEPT - for the first 20 minutes he was asleep - it's literally the weirdest thing ever. But I took advantage. Turned it off. 

I went to my room. Packed my bag and carried it down to the side door that I would leave out of. I went back upstairs. Packed my purse. Set my alarm from 3:15 am. I was up by 3. I wrote a note "Sleeping in, don't wake me" and left it outside my bedroom door. I called a cab. Snuck out the side door and was waiting for the cab by 3:45 am. Just as I was about to get into the cab I realized - car key in my pocket! GAH!!! I couldn't take the car key to Mexico. That was not reasonable. I went and slipped it into the mailbox. I figured the cleaning lady would find it. She was there on Friday's and she always took in the mail. 

I got to the airport and made it through security by 4:30 am. It was so fast! I was convinced I would be found out. What reason would I have for not being home at this hour? It would be clear I was lying about something. There's no way B would have come to get me at 5 am to go to the cottage. That's insane. I got totally paranoid. I tried to distract myself with work from my job. I fired off a bunch of emails. Got through a ton. It was now 6 am - my dad would be up. How come he hadn't messaged? He knew - for sure - I was going to be caught... oh crap. But nothing came. No one knew. I got s crazy at one point I even messaged myself to make sure my phone was working and borrowed someone’s cell to call my own. 

Finally it was time to board. If I were going to get caught now it would be too late. I'd be in the air. 

I boarded the plane. Turned off the phone and hoped for the best!!