Waiting has got to be one of the most painfully annoying things any mother with a sick child in a crowded noisy airport could experience.

Airport speakers: “flight number ####, **** Airlines, please head to gate number ## immediately“. I look at my watch and the plane is supposed to take off in 40 minutes. I walk to the boarding gate carrying my handbags and Adam (and the chips and juice and chocolate that he HAD to get on our way to the gate… and his Mickey Mouse that he refused to tuck in one of the bags, but had no energy to hold either), I saw a couple of planes that are about to take off, so in an attempt to cheer up Adam, I told him to look through the glass doors to watch them, he didn’t watch anything, he didn’t understand what I was saying, and I couldn’t point either with all the stuff I’m carrying… anyway, I got to see my reflection on the doors, and WHAT A SIGHT! I looked like a moving garment hanger, I could barely see my face, which I could feel was turning beetroot… did I mention I was wearing a coat and didn’t dare take it off in the hot airport because I didn’t know where I’d put it!

At the gate:

Eman: so still 40 minutes?

Airport Employee: yes.

55 minutes later…

Eman: seems like there’s a delay or something.

Airport Employee: not really, plane is on its way, must be here any minute.

After 1 hour 10 minutes…

Airport Charts: flight number ####, **** Airlines, Status: DELAYED

Eman: Do you know how long do we still have to wait.

Airport Employee: Till the weather in Libya becomes better (note: our plane is coming from Libya to stop in Tunis and then go to Dubai).

1 hour 30 minutes later…

I look like a freak feeding pigeons in a park; only my pigeons were little hungry toddlers who went mad once they saw me open Adam’s bag of chips… you can’t say no to hungry kids, can you?

1 hour 50 minutes later…

Airport employee: ok people, plane’s arrived, it’s time to board. Your passports and boarding passes please!

I look through the glass and all I can see is clouds, rain and lightning! (I have fly phobia by the way)

We wait another 30 minutes till it was “safe” to fly, and we finally take off. I have no idea what language that pilot spoke,  but it wasn’t English that’s for sure. Safe? It’s either he was out of his mind, or he was suicidal! and it’s not because I am a nervous flier, no, it’s because every one on the plane including the cabin crew were scared to death.

Anyway, I wished we’d be (Adam & I) alone with no one next to us, but there was this man, a Pakistani man, one of the sweetest, most respectful, caring and nice people I’ve met, sitting next to us, and once we were up in the sky he looked for another free seat, leaving us the 3rd seat for Adam to sleep comfortably. Adam fell asleep the minute the plane took off; he slept for 2 hours and kept me company for the remaining 4 hours, in which I was his personal maid, his entertainer, his nurse, his playmate… I was his mom. We watched many animated movies together, ate a lot of unhealthy treats, we drew awful drawings, we read stupid books; he pulled my hair and kicked me with his feet every time I took his temperature or gave him a disgusting medicine, and I was running out of ideas and getting really exhausted when I glimpsed the sight of the Manama city right under us… we were getting so close I thought to myself.

I can’t describe what I felt flying over the Gulf area. I was born (and half raised) in Kuwait, but nothing and nowhere reminded me of it, and so I barely missed it as a place, but I’ve always missed my life and friends there; and now that I was back so close to it, coming from a whole different continent, and the very different North-African region, I was overwhelmed with this sudden longing, reliving distant memories, with flashbacks of moments and places so far away. I wished Adam was older so that I can tell him how I felt right then, but all I could do was show him tiny sparkling lights that meant absolutely nothing to him … and suddenly I felt this tension in my stomach. Biting my shaky lips, I felt warm tears flowing down my cheeks… I miss them, I miss my family, I can almost feel their presence, and although we weren’t over Kuwait, but I could see our home, our neighborhood, my school… what would they feel like if they were with me? how I wished they’d be there once I land…

We’re almost there. Beautiful refreshing lights are passing through the right window… it’s dark again… lights coming through the left window… I just love it when the plane does that before it lands, it’s like the plane is dancing slowly with joy, teasing its passengers with sneak peeks of their final destination. Few cars on some long roads, some trucks moving slowly, the city looks really empty, it’s 4 A.M. Dubai time, and the ‘fasten your seat-belt’  sign is on, everyone’s seated, babies are crying, Adam’s trying to get rid of his seat-belt, I’m stupidly trying to spot my husband from the skies, turbulence, more turbulence, and more turbulence… what was that? did the plane just jump?

My heart is beating really fast, my hands are sweating; filled with excitement and anticipation I grab Adam’s hand and without feeling it, the plane lands safely in Dubai airport.