Austin's Arrival

Last Wednesday evening I decided to surprise Austin upon his return from an eleven week trek hinder and far throughout Western Europe by unexpectedly showing up at the San Francisco International Airport to greet him. He originally planned to finish his journey with yet one last leg of solo transit to our train station in Lafayette via BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit. He thought it would be apropos to do so since he'd extensively traveled using only a public means of transportation, or walking. As the hour approached for him to land I could feel my stomach start to get butterflies with the anticipation of his arrival. I scoped out the entire greeting area next to the baggage claim and decided to hide behind a column and watch him from a clandestine spot. Not long after his scheduled arrival time, I could see him approach the luggage carousel wearing some raggedy old and thread bear shorts, that same green t-shirt he probably wore all summer, a stylish "Army" style hat, and sporting a not-too-grungy reddish beard. While waiting for his backpack to clear the luggage chute, I walked up behind him and said in some broken, lousy American tone, "Bon jour!" He looked over his shoulder, cracked a big grin, gave me a nice bear hug, and said, "Dad, you'd never make it in Europe with those silly language skills." We laughed, stared at each other and just relished the moment.

That was the beginning of a great week together, all seven of us. We rarely have those collective moments as a complete family, so we all cherished every second of them. Over the last week we ate, hiked across the Golden Gate Bridge, talked, shared stories, canoed, fished, played with the girls (who were extraordinarily entertaining), went to a Giants baseball game, and just generally caught up. He had some fascinating tales to tell about his experiences in Europe, as one might imagine after having lived out of a backpack for almost three months.

He just left to go back to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for his last year of gradutate school. We'll see him again in just a few days when we head down with Annie (and the rest of our family) to drop her off for her first year of school away from home,... Boo Hoo! (She'll be a Junior studying Graphic Design.)

"Austin, if you're reading this, know that we love you so much, miss you already so much, and can't wait to see you again so much in the next day or two."

Tom (& Victoria)