A family boarded a plane sitting next to a boarding hall in the Sea-Tac airport that was destined for Beijing; the PRC's showcase to the rest of an ever more watching world. A son 12,000 miles away awoke with the anticipation of a reunion, a gathering of DNA sharers. He imagined the inevitble tears that would trace down his mother's rosy cheeks and finally leaving  a taste of salt on her lips. The son embraced visions of a hearty hug and pat on the back his younger brother and all the fun they would have trapsing around markets and crowds of Chinese people and on the ancient barrier known to the rest of the world as The Great Wall. His younger sister's aloofness before he left created a distance that he was determined to dissolve.

The son wasn't surprised when the butterflies began to hum in the pit of his stomach as he approaced the Capitol Airport in Beijing. How am I going to react? It's been over a year since I've seen them. I bet my brother has grown a lot. Hopefully not too much, he thought to himself. The woman he shared love with accompanied him, and requested he relax. 

"It's your family! As soon as you see them, all of this frantic nervousness will dissapear."

He knew she was right, and yet he couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive. He left his home and family a bit over a year ago. The situation he left behind wasn't exactly the best. He'd wronged those whom he shouldn't have, and acted destructively to those he should have shared sacred bonds with. That was all in the past, but still haunted him.

Standing impatiently at the international arrivals gate, he strained to catch a glimpse of the distant yet familiar faces he longed to rest his eyes on. It seemed as if the whole plane had emptied and filed through customs without his family. They were nowhere in sight. He had shown his love pictures of the arriving guests that he brought along with him on his original journey from the USA. "Do you see them? Where the hell are they?" he asked in a rehetorical tone and kept looking beyond the guarded gate that arriving passengers must pace through on their way to the city.

And finally, he caught sight of his sister. The son's lover was right, any and all nervousness instantly began to fade, and dissapear.

The son's mother caught sight of him and smiled. She sped through the cordoned off path and emerged through the gate. She dropped her luggage on the floor and embraced her son, the foretold tears welling up and tracing lines down her face. "Son." she said simply as she looked at his face. "Brother!" The son spun around and grabbed his brother's shoulders. "It's great to see you!" was all he could muster. There would be time for more later. Seeing his almost grown up sister was shocking. Makeup now hid her from view and she seemed too mature. She got a hug nonetheless.  

Life in Beijing is exhausting. Gone is the casual pace at which I used to saunter through my days. Here are the times when everything is a rush rush rush mentality that culminates into a glass of whiskey and a couch at the end of the day. It's not so much the job I have that drains me of my energy. It's the pace of a city that has been awakened unto economic prosperity and pipe dreams. Untapped markets and cheap labor has many a western salivary gland working double overtime and corporate executives throwing fistfulls of dollars in Beijing's direction. Everywhere you look there are people scrambling to a better life. Millions of 'em. Gone are the days of afternoon naps. In their place are days that cannot be contained in a single twenty-four hour period. I remember old codgers telling me when I was younger that there just wasn't enough time in one day to get done all that needs to be done. I didn't understand what they meant. It was just a vague saying coming from old men with glassed over eyes. Their meaning has become crystal clear to me recently however. I wake to the dawning of day long before dawn has come. I re-enter my home long after the sky has lost it's light, having just been through a day that resembled a blur. It's not that I'm unhappy exerting so much energy. In fact, not knowing boredom, or idleness, or relaxation has taught me a few things that I suppose I needed to learn. I doubt that I can sustain a continual line of active participation in urban activity for long though. When I'm fed up I'll utter a simple phrase I've always wanted to: "I need a vacation". And then I'll board a plane for India.