A new kind of empty.

My son was flying home. Thank Goodness! He was coming back from Sevilla, Spain where he had been studying. "I'm really sad to be leaving, mum," he texted. He had had such an amazing time, even though it had been cut short. His flight from Sevilla to London went according to schedule. However, once he got to London, things got chaotic. His flight was cancelled last minute. He ended up staying in a hotel, and I scrambled to get him another flight. Actually, from my end here in the States, it was almost impossible to talk to any airline sales assistants, or even the travel agency. "We are experiencing a higher than normal amount of calls, so if you are not flying in the next 72 hours, please call back," the recorded messages would say, and then they would hang up! A second flight was booked, but during the night that was also cancelled. I was getting stressed! Suddenly, though, I received a text from my son telling me that he had found a ticket and immediately bought it. He was on his way. Phew! So we drove to Seatac airport to pick him up. The airport didn't feel like it usually does. It was very empty, echoey. There is usually tonnes of human activity, noises, conversations, movement, the sound of luggage wheels rolling everywhere, kids making typical noises. There was none of that. It was a new kind of quiet, a new kind of empty. Even baggage claim was sparse, just a few bags here and there. The stress of a typical airport was not apparent either, in fact, the security personnel were standing in a group chatting and laughing. We found our son, got back to the parking area, and left. He was tired from his journey, of course. Unfortunately, we couldn't bring him home. He had to go to a different location to self-quarantine for two weeks, just in case he has the coronavirus. We will know soon enough. I've taken him groceries, of course: steak, chicken, bread, eggs, lots of fruit and vegetables. You know, I'm a mum. And he is quite good at entertaining himself. His university classes are online, so he can do those whenever he wants. He also group video chats with all of his friends. It's such a tremendous advantage to have access to messaging apps, especially videoing ones. I think if you can see the face of a loved one, it really helps when you are far away. So, we carry on with life, and wait another week or ten days to see if he develops symptoms. We're prepared for anything, but hoping for the best.

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