Jan 22, 2025

I was mostly sick for the morning and even had a slight fever so I decided to call in sick for the morning and just do my work in the afternoon. I took some medicine and rested for the morning until noon, then I timed in for work and did my usual round of tasks. I also completed a bulk of them, too. After work, we had to bring Mom to the airport. My sister already had McDonald's delivered so we just had to eat and get ready to leave for NAIA. Our plan there was to eat here, drop Mom off, and eat at Burger King later. I ate my food and Mom readied her stuff before leaving. We quickly got ready and we got a ride there. We took a few photos before leaving and Mom's luggage was carried downstairs. Ailysh sat at the window seat, I sat in the middle, and Mom sat at the other window seat to my right. The trip was like any other Grab trip but Mom was posting the pics we took earlier to her FB Story. I made her sit in the middle of us and Ailysh cried while trying to do her morning work in the car. We eventually arrived in NAIA and Ailysh was already crying a lot by then. As we approached the NAIA Departures area, Ailysh was already crying a lot. We eventually got off and I showed them the airport's entrances and where would be entering from as non-passengers. Mom got to the airport at the passenger side and we went to the side. We saw Mom from the other side of the rail and she kissed us on the top of our heads before leaving to get checked in. Ailysh was crying a lot and we went to a part of the airport I hadn't explored yet. We went up the escalator and I was so shocked that it led up to an area with Tim Horton's, McDonald's, and other restaurants. We sat at the Tim Horton's and I was surprised that my Mom called me via FaceTime. We talked for a while and then she had to go process stuff for her departure. Eventually, Mom called me again and told us to wait for her and we eventually went to terminal E or something to wait for her. While on the way there, I saw the other shops and restaurants within NAIA and I was so shocked. There were clothing stores, a small Nike store, and other restaurants. They even had a Subway! We mostly just sat at the same spot waiting for her. Ailysh did some work on the laptop she brought and I was just looking out at the people below. People who were processing their luggage for their flights. Mom took a while and even had to move stuff from her luggage so she could have it loaded. But eventually, she finished and went upstairs to the floor we were on with all the restaurants and stores. She hugged us and we took a few pics with her before her departure. She was kind of in a hurry because the plane would be departing in less than an hour and she had to go through Immigrations, so she just hugged us and we parted ways. Mom boarded her flight and we walked around to find a place to eat. I was honestly surprised to see more restaurants like Chowking and Army Navy, and we even saw the Mary Grace restaurant and a KFC. I decided to eat at KFC instead and we just chilled there for a while. Mom called me again before boarding her flight and Ailysh and I said goodbye to her. Ailysh continued to do her work and I finished eating. I looked around and felt really inspired by the airport, and I wish I could go here again sometime soon. Hopefully as a passenger next time. We booked a ride home and then I had a difficult time talking downstairs due to my sprain, but thankfully we weren't late for the car. While on the way home, the car played "Memories" by Maroon 5 and the times we spent with Mom over the past month just flashed in my head. I began to slowly start crying while the song was playing. It was such an off song to play, but whatever. The radio played other sad songs and that eventually made my sister cry as well. Upon arriving home, my sister just cried and cried at not seeing Mom anymore. The rest of the day was quiet but also sad. I told my sister to only wait for 11 more months before seeing Mom again and she cried again. She really missed Mom and something about this year's visit just made us more attached, despite not being with her for more than a decade already. I just gave her advice and motivation for us to do well this 2025 and to have fun, happy moments with Mom again at the end of the year.