Every time I pack for traveling, either for a short overnight stay or a long overseas trip, there is always a fear in the back of my head that I have forgotten something: Have I taken everything I need? How about something essential like pajamas? I did once forget to take sleepwear for myself.
For a multidestination journey, I have formed a habit of doing a last-minute departure sweep in my hotel room to avoid leaving something important behind, such as a phone charger, and the inconvenience it would cause me for the rest of my journey.
In spite of my efforts, the travel gods have a way of playing with me so something is misplaced or lost along the way. Over the years, I have become almost fatalistic, learning to do my due diligence while almost anticipating oncoming disasters, although I could never predict what would be lost or missing each time.
This May, my near-blind sister from Shanghai, China, insisted on coming to visit me in Bethesda, Maryland, spending a month with me and my family before her doctor’s prediction that she would lose what was left of her sight became a reality.
I worried about her traveling alone, and I also worried about her packing by herself. I was almost certain that she would forget to pack something important. Much to my surprise, she didn’t. She had neatly packed all her belongings and knew exactly where every item was. I was impressed by the sharpness of her mind’s eye.
For a whole month, we hugged, talked, shopped, shared tears, and held hands. We were each other’s shadows every day to make up for the years that we had been separated. We even spent a day in a shopping mall, something so ordinary yet something, as sisters separated by a continent and an ocean, we could never have hoped to do together. I only wished that our time together could have lasted longer.
After she left, I thought that she might have accidentally left something here so I searched the house thoroughly. Perhaps not surprisingly, I found nothing. My sister was too well organized. Oddly enough, I was disappointed, for I almost wished that she had left something behind … a bead from her necklace or a scarf – some concrete evidence proving that she was just here with me.
I so desperately wanted to keep her presence here and make it last, even though she had already returned to Shanghai. Then, suddenly, it came to me that she did leave a lot behind in my house: the imagined sound of her footsteps on the staircase, the gentle way she slid open the pocket door to the kitchen in the morning, the chair she sat in, the meals she shared with us … my house will be echoing with the memories of her stay for many years to come.
In the meantime, I know that I should plan the next reunion. Though I might misplace an item or two during the trip, I know I will be taking plenty of sisterly love along with me.
You can always reach me at qstubis@gmail.com, or please visit me at www.QinSunStubis.com.