Last Call For Flight 94043

Last Call For Flight 94043

The hustle and the bustle,
Different people everywhere,
Each with their own story,
Their love is their glory,

Husband, Wife, Son, Daughter,
Their presence shall be missed,

An electric atmosphere fills the air,
Yet for now, I am calm,

But now the screen changes,
I see what I have been dreading,
Flight 94043 - proceed to gate,

So, now is the time for my body to depart,
And leave with home a piece of my heart,

I won't turn around now,
I can't risk seeing your face,
And you shouldn't see mine,

For this is now for me to do,
Knowing I'll always love you,

Goodbye for now best friend,
I shall see you soon.

Explanation....

2009 was for me a very significant year. I moved from the UK to California - a distance door to door (as the crow flies and measured on Google Earth) of 5238 miles (I'm now back in England).

I am very close to my family and love them unconditionally - without boring you with the details, we have been through a lot and together faced many challenges. Naturally, these distances present challenges for interaction and goodbyes (which I really don't do...not well anyway!). And those goodbyes are experienced in a much more different and profound way than 'See ya, back in an hour'.

The hustle and the bustle,
Different people everywhere,
Each with their own story,

This is basically in reference to an airport departure lounge. All those people, all going somewhere, each with their own stories to tell.

Their love is their glory,

This is actually in reference to a song by Mark Knopfler called "If this is goodbye", which he wrote in memory of the 9/11 attacks and about the phone calls from the people from the planes. All of them were messages of love, and that although they were essentially murdered, the one glory that they had over the evil was the love they had.

Husband, Wife, Son, Daughter,
Their presence shall be missed,

Again, this is to add to each person's story. Everyone is important to someone, and whilst they're gone, for however long, they will be missed.

An electric atmosphere fills the air,
Yet for now, I am calm,

In airports, there really is an atmosphere. In this case, I felt calm, but I knew that I was about to become upset as I said goodbye to my Mum.

But now the screen changes,
I see what I have been dreading,

The information screens spread all over the airport, which are always the opening chapter in traveling. They comments the movement away/towards your loved ones. The dreading isn't because I don't want to go. I chose this, but it's dreading the goodbye.

Flight 94043 - proceed to gate,

There is no flight 94043 to my knowledge, but in fact this is is the zip code in America of where I would be staying. Nice place by the way if you ever get chance to visit.

So, now is the time for my body to depart,
And leave with home a piece of my heart,

Kinda self explanatory right?

I won't turn around now,
I can't risk seeing your face,
And you shouldn't see mine,

Knowing that this is something grown up that you just have to do. Head up right, eyes forward. Look forward both figuratively and literally. Everyone knows it's upset enough, the departing and "dropper off" both know the image that is on each other's face, so why confirm it and make it harder than it already is.

For this is now for me to do,
Knowing I'll always love you,

I have to take this opportunity, and I hope that you know that whatever happens, I always love you for letting me do this.

Goodbye for now best friend,
I shall see you soon.

This is a message for my Mum (my whole family really), but my Mum who bought me into this world, and is now letting me go off and explore it.