he waves as he enters the airport security area and then again as he progresses beyond that and then as he walks away from us becoming smaller and smaller but yet he turns at regular intervals and waves tiny now but more visible than most due to his 6'4" lankiness he waves one last time before he turns the corner and is out of sight he is our adorable older boy now 21 and embarking on a journey that takes him to the other side of the globe to Thailand to study economics his chosen field I weep a combination of how utterly dear he is to me and the days of holding hands and sweet almost constant proximity naturally lessening over the years as he matured along with an admiration heart held for his bravery and sure footedness and so much more and really he is responding to us for we initiated this gesture of acknowledgement and farewell
fully participating
he turns and waves
time and time again
his inborn kindness prompting this response
until that corner moment...
his father exclaims as we walk away
he did the very same thing as a young child
when we lived in the French West Indies!
he described how he would walk to work
in the morning
and our beautiful boy
Our first-born son
so little
so darling
would watch from the window waving
until his father
was out of view
and now he responds to us as we do the same
as we do the same
Annie Kiyonaga
August, 2016
(Photo of watercolor my older son created for me included in this post.)