Goodbye Again

Ding dong. Still caught in the middle of my dreams, I only subconsciously register the sound. Suddenly a startled Jason sits bolt up right beside me and says; “It’s Dad! It’s late! Why didn’t the alarm go off?” Leaving the excitement of my dreams behind I slowly sit up. “What time is it?” I ask. The alarm clock glows illuminating the numbers: 5:38. Jason fumbles with the alarm clock for a second and then groans. “I set the alarm for p.m. not a.m.! I’ve never done that before!” He jumps out of bed and makes a dash for the bathroom. “Can you go let Dad in?” he asks. I glance for a moment at my ugly polka dot pajamas then shrug. Who cares if he sees me wear them? They should have been discarded long ago but over time the material has become so soft I can’t bear to part with them, much to Jason’s dismay. I stumble out of bed and then make my way downstairs. Still yawning and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I open the door. “Have you been waiting long?” I question Dad. "About 10 minutes,” he replies. “I kept thinking Jason would be coming and I didn’t want to wake up Jayden by ringing the door bell.” “Well good thing you did”, I respond, “Since we were both still sound asleep!” I plod back up the stairs and then help Jason lift his suitcases down the stairs. Within minutes Jason is ready to leave for the airport and with a quick hug and kiss goodbye he’s out the door. Once he’s gone I slowly make my way back up the stairs and lay back down in the now empty bed. Several minutes later I hear Jayden start to rock in his crib, so I crawl out of bed again and carry him back to mine. Still half asleep he curls up as close as he can to me and in minutes is sound asleep once again. I close my eyes and try to go back to my exciting, adventurous dreams but nothing happens. Instead my mind drifts to the last two weeks spent with Jason. My brother’s wedding,

surprise birthday parties for Jason,

picnics, going for walks,

playing by the ocean,

skipping rocks at the river,

blowing bubbles,

eating pizza, studying and talking for hours. It’s really been great having Jason here with us, but time flies by so fast and now he’s gone again. My thoughts drift to Haiti and I try to remember my life there before the earthquake but the memories are fuzzy. Since there are so little similarities between life in Canada and life in Haiti, it’s hard for me to remember what it was like. Dozing off, I put my one arm around Jayden and wonder for a moment how I’m going to explain that his Daddy is gone again when he wakes up.