I go away

Last night, the office peeps threw me a going away party which turned out to be a more sombre affair than any of us intended.
I was on alcohol abstinence since I had to pick boy up from airport
other friends were doing the lent
but
fun was still had.
BR, my one remaining college friend and her boyfiance turned up
I got thoughtful gifts, my fav being =this beautiful album filled with people I adored and I nearly lost it.
We laughed and reminisced and teased and I was humbled for my life is truly filled with more love than I deserve.

As I drove away from peeps to pick boy up, the sense that I am entering a whole new chapter of my life hit me hard.
I love the boy dearly yet, I couldn't help but have a tiny twitter of excited apprehension, like the sort you get just before you go on stage to give a truly outstanding speech / presentation.
So many thoughts clouded my brain on that 50 min drive to airport.
The word cleave kept popping up. Cleaving away, cleaving to.
M.L. wrote the other day how triply difficult it was for a modern desi couple to make it - the pressure of finding the right balance between east and west, the gender power struggle, add to that the cultural differences which I honestly didn't think we had to face since we both come from the same part of the world but we are finding out that we have so many concepts in our head that we thought we needn't to translate because heck, everybody thinks that way right?
no.
We are finding & going to find new ways to work together, be together, play together.
The boy and I have to do this alone.
Swirl. Swirl. Swirl.

I was late. The boy was waiting patiently outside.
We hugged. We kissed.
He smiled
"Ready?"
I was. I am.