My twenty-one year-old daughter has a knack for entering a new situation with an impressive combination of focus and curiosity. This often manifests itself as an embrace of the immediate present to the exclusion of the recent past, or at least that’s the way it would seem to her overly sensitive Dad.
Case in point: when I brought her to Bloomington, MN to start her freshman year of college over three years ago, we had a wonderful day moving in and getting to know the campus. She was tearful when I had to say goodbye, but quickly cheered up when her roommate came by to accompany her to dinner. The two of them walked toward the cafeteria chatting up a storm, while I quietly walked toward my rental car in the opposite direction. I kept peering over my shoulder, secretly hoping that she would do the same. She didn’t.
The same thing happened yesterday when I brought her to Logan Airport after a very pleasant holiday visit. We said goodbye at the security gate, and that was it: she walked forward while I lingered and sighed.
I’ve been trying to capture this bittersweet moment without being overly sentimental or resorting to cliches. The obvious solution would be to simply report the facts:
passing through security
my daughter
doesn’t look back
“Doesn’t look back”, as a figure of speech, seems too weighty, therefore even though it’s an accurate description, I think of it as too distracting.
airport security —
my daughter doesn’t see me
wave goodbye
This is also accurate, although I wonder if it’s too much of an “awww” moment.
winter rain —
my daughter doesn’t see me
wave goodbye
“airport security” replaced with a seasonal reference. I don’t like this as much as the second. Back to the cooling board...
