Ok, so maybe one of the most important things that’s happened to me is when my mom left when I was around 10. Don’t judge just yet! Not leave as in left us, but rather went abroad to look for a better job and it was all to give us a better future, which she did and I love her for that (and for million other reasons :P). Even though I knew that very well, that still was the worst period of my life. See, my mom, my sister and I have always been like best friends and when she left it was really difficult for me to cope. We were left to live with my dad and a friend of mom’s who was supposed to help us with the housekeeping. I love my dad a lot, so that wasn’t a bad thing, and we came to love that friend of mom’s as our own grandmother over the years. The thing was that Maria (the friend) wasn’t there at the very beginning, so at first my sister and I were left with all the housekeeping, cooking and on top of that with our own things to do like being teenagers (tough enough as it is), studying and dealing with pretty much everything on our own. My father used to get out early in the morning and come back for dinner in the evenings. During the day it was just me and my sis.
I forgot to mention that my grandparents started a life abroad when I was a baby. Mom never had much of their help but that’s another story. I do know, however, that they also had their reasons and they were pretty much the same as mom’s. Trying to provide a better life for their children whatever the cost and in their case the cost was not spending so much time with us. I do adore them, no matter what. They’ve always been the best grandparent even when they weren’t there. 🙂 Anyway, when my mom left she moved in with them in Dubai. She still lives there, but is planing to move to the US pretty soon. Dubai quickly became a second home for me and my sister but I’m willing to give it up any time for America 😉
I remember, the first time I went to see mom in Dubai. It was the best of times but when it was over it was the worst. I remember that I went there for like 3 weeks. I spent a week without my sister, then she came and we were all together for 2 weeks and then I came back home and she stayed for another week. That was the worst week in my life! My dad knew I was really depressed because I missed mom and he did whatever he could to cheer me up, but he had to work anyway, so he was gone pretty much throughout the whole day. I remember that it was summer, and most of our friends were gone on vacation as well, so I didn’t even have their support and I basically felt so lonely that I cried myself to sleep for several nights until my sister came back.
At first it was really difficult. Every time we had to leave mom and come back home after a visit we were crying at the airport, feeling down for a few days after that and like this until the next time. Over and over again. But it became a bit easier over the years. We go there a lot, almost every vacation possible, and now that we have our residence visa we are obliged to enter Dubai every 6 months. I guess the moment when it became easier for me was when Bobby came along…
Life as I know it 