Nate's goodbye

I am writing this now, before I forget it.

When we left Singapore, we were seen off by my parents and my brother Kevin. Poor people, they had to wake up at 3am to make sure we got to the airport on time. After going through security and customs, we turned around to wave goodbye to my family through the glass. I was carrying Nate over my left shoulder, and he kept on waving as we walked towards the gate.

Then he said:

'Goodbye Kevin! I'll see you later. I'll be back soon.'

There was of course no way Kevin was going to hear it, and it was probably just as well. It was said in such a sincere voice it would have broken his heart. It damned near broke mine, and I just barely held it together as we approached our gate.

Nate and the family in Singapore

It's never been a big secret that the primary reason for this trip to Singapore was so Nate could spend time with his grandparents. They've been to Vancouver to see him twice already, but he'd never been to Singapore to see them. It was so nice to see Nate run up to his grandparents at the airport and give them big hugs, even though he hadn't seen them since April 2008. Since then, it's been nothing but grandma this and grandpa that.

In addition, Nate has finally met my brother. It didn't really take very long for him to make up his mind about his uncle Kevin. On their second meeting, he turned to Kevin and said 'You're a cool guy!'. Since then, whenever Kevin is around, Nate is stuck to him like glue.

'Is Uncle Kevin coming?'

'Uncle Kevin, are you coming with us?'

'Uncle Kevin, I have to tell you something.'

'Are you coming home with us uncle Kevin?'

These are just some of the things you'll hear Nate say when his uncle Kevin is around. The list goes on. I always knew that the two of them would hit it off, but it's so nice to finally see it happen. Just look at them, you'd think they've known each other forever!