歸心

5:30 am, my watch showed. Another hour before take-off. My wife and two sons were having a light breakfast as I turned on my iPod and put on my headphones. Passengers quickly filled the waiting area, much like the aroma from the cafe nearby. A familiar song started to play on my iPod - 薛岳: 機場, I turned up the volume just enough to drown out my sons' laughter. I wasn't trying to ignore them, but to have a few moments to enjoy the song.

My wife and I were in California this past January when she attended a conference. It had been over three years since our last visit as a family. I had called San Diego home for over two decades, every trip back feels much like a home coming to me. I gazed at my sons as they played. It wasn't until a few minutes ago, that they were told of our final destination, both of them were elated. They had asked when we could visit their cousins many times this year, our reply had always been the same - "Soon, maybe next long vacation.". We wanted to keep it as a surprise, now they knew. On San Diego side, my mom, my nephew and niece still didn't know about our surprise visit.

It would have been nice if the four kids - our sons and my sister's two kids, could share childhood memories together. Unfortunately we had to go where the job market was. Despite the long distance, our families have remained close through the years. I was sure that the kids would have much to talk about and have a great time.

I wasn't exactly anxious but I found myself looking at my watch a lot. Finally, the boarding announcement was made, time to get in line to board the plane. There isn't any direct flight between the two cities. We had to fly to Denver for our connecting flight on this trip. Luckily both flights were roughly two hours long, with about one hour in between them.

At around 9:30 am, Pacific Time, our plane started to descend. Familiar buildings, structures began to emerge. "Look, that's downtown San Diego...the Skyline", I pointed them out to my younger son who sat next to me. "There's the Coronado Bridge...", my son didn't respond, it just did have the same effect on him seeing these landmarks. Deep down I said to myself, "I'm back!".

Shortly after 10 am, we picked up our rental car and set the GPS, then off we went.

Care to guess where we headed first?