And so it begins.

Photo taken here.

 
...and the big yellow taxi took my girl away...
-"Big Yellow Taxi" by Counting Crows

To Madrid, Spain.
My sister, together with my Mom, that is.
We were at the airport at 8:00am, two hours before their flight at 10:00am.

One year is a long time to be apart.
And it's a first too, for us to celebrate Christmas and New Year apart.

...there's a hole in my heart in the shape of you...
"The Shape of You" by Jewel

I didn't cry in the airport just as I promised myself I wouldn't.
It's not me trying to be macho or anything.
Rather, it's me wanting to be that one smiling face.
I wanted to be that one reminder that parting, though it brings tears, also promises adventure.
This is something she's long wanted.
A dream.
I should know.
I was her carpool mate when she conceived this dream to take her masters abroad.
That day prompted the beginning and the realization of her dream.

...already I'm so lonesome I could die...
Leaving on a Jet Plane, Chantal Kreviazuk

But I miss her already.
The house seems incomplete.
I feel incomplete.
Like I'm missing a body part.
We'll keep in touch for sure.
But it will not be the same.
It will not be the same.
It is not the same.

Earlier, though I meant to be funny, I meant it too when I said that the moment we stepped out of our car from bringing her to the airport, we have begun living our days without her.
Yeah, we're a family severely attached to each other.
And the idea of being apart has been far-fetched until this day.
One year apart.
Imagine that.
I don't need to.
And so it begins.

I'm rooting for you big sister!