Finally Home

Finally Home

The luck of me checking my phone right then, 12:00. I see the text, the one I’d requested from my mom.

“Anika dad is home!!”

Yes! It’s been a week since I’d seen him but it felt like so much longer, especially after he had come home for three days and then was called back before we could get used to his presence. My grandfather had not been doing well and so my dad had gone to India, a week before Expo.

One week.

On the winter collective we went to India to see my grandfather for possibly the last time.

Two weeks.

We came back and waited another week before he came home.

Three days.

And then the call came. I was making breakfast before leaving for school with my nanny when my dad calls.

“I have to go to India. Dadu’s health has decreased significantly so I will be heading out this afternoon.”

That’s when we began a two day game of waiting. Every time I thought of my dad I hoped with all my heart he would make it to India before it happened. Hoping, waiting, preparing.

Wednesday night. I’m downstairs with my mom and my brother.  

“Dadu passed away around 12:00 today.”

12:00 am India time, so about 12:30 our time. I was at lunch, smiling, oblivious to the tragedy.

One week.

I hadn’t talked to anyone besides my friends, Tari or my family. Not my dad, not my grandma. No one. The most I had talked to my dad was a couple of emails between us, but no actual communication. Actually, I don’t know. This last week has been a blur, I don’t really know who I talked to, everything was in a haze.

In the middle of the Boy’s dressing room cutting yarn for a jellyfish umbrella. I got the text and immediately texted back. I had the satisfaction of having him back. The emptiness in the house filled but also replaced by a new one. But there he was when I got back. Finally Home.