I awoke to a knock on my bedroom door. I looked at the clock and saw it was only 6 a.m. I groggily said the words “come in”. I was in a complete daze, as I had little sleep the night before due to anticipation of what was to come. As my mother entered, I could see the tears and mascara running down her face. She had said at dinner the night before that she would not let me see her cry. We both knew that wasn’t going to happen. She approached my bed and I met her in an embrace, one that seemed to last an eternity. I could barely hear the words “I love you…am proud of you…you’re finally a man…take care of yourself” between the sniffles. As quickly as she had entered my room, she was gone. As I walked down the hallway, I could smell bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen. I entered and saw my father cooking over the stove. "Morning son!" was all that he said, not even glancing in my direction. I sat down at the kitchen table, where he soon joined me with the plates of food. Grabbing the morning paper as he ate, I could see this was going to be his way of avoiding any discussion of what was to come. I wasn't going to initiate the conversation any more then he was, so I just let things be. I ate my food in silence. As he started the truck, I took one last glance at the house as we pulled out of the driveway. My dad instinctively reached over and turned on the radio. This was just another sign that he didn't want to talk. I just stared out the window and got lost in my thoughts. Before I knew it, we were pulling into the entrance of the airport.