A Temporary Long Distance Relationship

My grandchildren are the main project in my present life. Being grandfather is my fulltime job .

But a few hours from now Devica Esha , our little four years old  drama queen, will run to catch the Airbus A380s to Indonesia via Dubai. She is eager to go. She will stay with her grandmother on Sumatra while I will stay with her grandmother in Zeist.

It will be a month of abstention to me. Cold Turkey. Absence of Devica Esha means no playing together. No fun together. No bonding. And no jigsaws, no hide and seek, no pancakes, no lego , no tracking in our secret forest, no reading out Pippi Longstocking, no lady birds walking on her hands, no questions about snails, no weird word games, no Pocoyo on Youtube, no staying over with me.

Actually I’m in love with my granddaughter. And I believe it’s reciprocal.Though she may have changed her mind since she told me she fell in love with Ruchir half a year ago. He’s a tall handsome six years old.  But, she assured me that though our future marriage would be off , she would still love me. So we carried on like nothing had happened.

However, this is gonna be different. My relation to Devica Esha is in jeopardy because of a much more serious danger: this temporary long distance relationship. Which, I learned from several female bloggers, is a major source of emotional hardship and deprivation. Well, I admit that like the little girl is a queen I’m a drama king.

Of course her Indonesian family really deserves this month of quality time. After all the other eleven months of the year she stays near to us. It mirrors the situation of our Jakarta based grandson Krishna. We cherish the three of four weeks a year he stays with us as well. Speaking of experiencing a long distance relationship…

Anyhow, I confess I will count the days. I already long for the moment she will return – though at this particular moment of writing she has not even boarded the plane to Jakarta yet.

Indonesia, please be nice to her.