A Gift From My Best Mate

All was going well at Sydney airport. In fact I felt void of any emotion. It was still unrealistic to think this was all happening. The fact that I had packed up my life, put it into storage and will now be living out of a suitcase for the best part of a year. But there at the airport Adam threw in a final twist. Always the one to have the last say, and always with a hint of smart arsery. 'Here' he says, 'I cant acccept this', and with that he held out his closed fist. A blankness came over my face and all I could do was hold out my hand to take receipt back of what I could only presume to be the sterling silver ID braclet I gave him on the night of my farewell party. The one that I had inscribed with 'Love You....JJ'. And there it was, that exact sterling silver ID braclet. I was instantly filled with horror. I took a look at it and there it was, an inscription 'Love You.....Ads'. The bugger had gone out and bought a identical ID braclet to the one I got him. He put it on me, and there it was, my best mate and I were linked and will now be symbolically with me for this entire trip.

So eventually it came down time for me to say goodbye to Adam and to Justin, and I headed through the doors into customs. Time passsed on and still no great change in how I felt. No excitement, no nervousness, no nothing. Then came a text message from Ad's telling me he was bawling. That was the straw that broke me. I was standing there with more than just teary eyes. My glasses were totally fogged up. Why was I emotionless and then sad? And its only now after being on the plane for a number of hours that I realised. Adam has become the brother I never had, even the sister I never had. We are so alike, and on many other levels I look up to him, admire him and even envy him. We have done so many other overseas trips together and have met many different people. Now this time I'm doing it alone, and I felt alone. Where was my devious offsider?

So I'm on the plane and first things first.....who's sitting next to me? And thankfully it's NO ONE! I have four seats to myself. Thank you so much Teva. Next thing, the movies, and there it is Brokeback Mountain. I hadn't seen it and I was looking forward to it.

I stayed awake for the entire trip. The half a sleepinng tablet I took didn't do anything. I think main due to sleeping the night before and only being awake for six hours was the reason. Its a long trip and my butt was killing me by the time I landed in NYC.