CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
2008 - Family Vacation
By August, I felt comfortable enough to start planning for my post-supervision life.
I stopped by my parents’ house a few days after my mother had returned to her school for In-Service and told them I wanted to run something by them. We were sitting in the backyard at sunset, drinking glasses of jus citron with sprigs of basil from the garden.
“How would you feel if the three of us took a trip together once I’m off supervised release?” I asked. “I figured if I bring it up now, it would give you enough time to get your PTO cleared at work.”
“What do you have in mind?” my father asked. I knew he was thinking I was going to suggest something like California or maybe Japan. Something crazy that they would never consider on their own.
“I’d like to spend a week in the D.R. and a week in Haiti, for my thirty-fifth birthday.”
They both looked shocked.
“I’ll pay for everything,” I added. “You just need to show up with your suitcase and passports. We all have enough of them,” I joked.
And it was true. Even though my parents had both gotten U.S. citizenship years ago, my mother had always kept her Haitian passport current. Same with my father- he had a U.S. passport as well as a Dominican one. And they made sure to hook me up- I personally had three passports.
“Your thirty-fifth birthday in Haiti,” my mother said, quietly. “That would be beautiful.”
“I was actually thinking we’d start out in Santo Domingo,” I explained. “We could spend a week there. Stay at the Sofitel in Zona Colonia for a few days. Do a day trip to Boca Chica and maybe an overnight side trip to somewhere like Jarabacoa.”
I looked over at my father- he’d grown up in the heart of the city of Santo Domingo and had a very complicated relationship with his home country.
“It’s up to you, Papá,” I said. “We don’t need to plan everything out right now, but I wanted to let you know what I was thinking.”
He smiled and nodded.
“It would be nice to get back there as a family again,” he said. “Last time we were all there together was for your graduation, Pierre.”
“Almost fifteen years ago,” my mother murmured.
“Yep,” I said. “I’m old now. You guys have a kid who’s as close to forty as he is thirty.”
They both laughed. Quietly. Time was flying.
I turned to my mother.
“Manman, I want us to take a plane to Port au Prince. We can stay at Hotel Montana for a few days. Head up to Furcy and Kescoff to check people. Maybe head to Aquin? Jacmel? Really it’s up to you.”
My mother looked like she was about to cry. I saw her try to pull it together.
“Wi, cherí,” she said, her voice surprisingly hoarse. “Sounds like your dates line up with my Spring Break. And it’s early enough for me to put in for any additional days past the holiday.”
She then turned towards my father.
“And you, Mesye, I know you’ve got at least 8,000 weeks of vacation that you’ve never taken, so you may as well tell them you need two weeks in a row.”
My dad, ever the rule follower, looked a bit nervous.
My mother shut that down quickly. “They’re not going to fire you, Mauricio! You’re giving them eight months’ notice!”
He conceded that she was probably right.
We spent the rest of my visit laying out some basic itinerary points. I’d buy plane tickets and make our reservation for the Sofitel as soon as my parents confirmed they’d gotten their PTO approved. I knew Mr. Henriques would give me my time off, no questions asked.
I left my parents’ house feeling like I’d achieved a milestone in the adulting Olympics. It felt like I was planning a combo homecoming/ancestral pilgrimage.
And on the petty tip, it would let Mundo and Hopeton know they couldn’t rush me. I was still making my own plans- this trip would help me level set against the fuckery that would no doubt take place in Panama.
My parents didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes on my end.
There was no way I would let them know that I’d eventually have to leave New York.
