Last Call

Airports. What comes to your mind when you think about them?

My brother is apparently a big fan of them because he likes to imagine that he's one in the endless throng of travellers with a suitcase, bound for a holiday in a better, far more exciting place.

I know of many others who feel the same way. But airports and airplanes are more than that. These are the places where most of life's melodramas are played out. Airplanes are at once modern-day doves and harbingers of loneliness; the smiles and laughter of reunited families play out in stark relief to the slient tears of separation between pairs of unfortunate lovers.

I happen to have a love-hate relationship with airports. My life has been punctuated with enough emotional scenes within its departure gates and arrival halls although for some reason i seem to remember the sad goodbyes more clearly than the sweet reunions.

In the past five years, i have always been flying alone. it fills me with chagrin when i realise how ironic it actually is. while i am constantly flying to meet someone or flying away from someone, it's been a long time since i've actually sat on a flight WITH someone. and it's not even because i wanted things to turn out this way.

after next april, i hope i wont have to sit beside a stranger or an empty seat the next time i board a plane. i want that someone for company, his shoulder to lean on and his hand to hold. i want his words for comfort on unending transits, his arms so i wont need to struggle with my own bags and most of all, the certainty of knowing that in future, we'll always be passing through airports together, with no need for goodbyes or unnecessary bouts of separation.