The promise I just couldn't keep.

"This is the place you promised me you would never grow up."

I had totally forgotten. About 11 years ago The Swart family was taking a trip to visit the family in England. The father was looking around at all of the people, all of the goodbyes which probably caused him to say this,

"Promise me you two will never grow up?" The father said as the two young girls giggled and looked at each other.

"Dadddd." The curly haired one whined.

"We can't promise you that." The eldest daughter said as she proceeded with taking off her shoes and putting them in the security bin. The father grabbed the security bin and looked at the two girls, eyeing them. They both continued to giggle thinking it was all a big game, though 11 years later they would soon come to realize it wasn't.

"Promise me or we're not going through." He said in a joking matter. The two girls rolled their eyes anxious to go buy their snacks and watch dvd's on their father's laptop.

"Okay fine. We promise." The eldest girl said as she jumped up and grabbed the security bin.

"Yeah we promise." The curly haired girl mimicked as she scrunched up her blanket and stuck her thumb in her mouth, following the eldest sister.


Now here we were standing at the airport right before the security point where from then on I would be on my own. I bit my lip softy as I looked up at my father, tears were glistening in his eyes. He probably would have been crying if I hadn't made him promise before hand not to.

"Don't be sad. This isn't goodbye. You're going to see me in just a few weeks!" I said trying to lighten the mood though I knew it was a matter of mere seconds until I would be crying as well.

I didn't know what to say. What do you say when you know you've made a promise you couldn't keep? In my defense I was about 8 or 9 at the time so it wasn't a true promise. You know like "I promise I'll walk the dogs" or "I promise I won't get addicted" or "I promise I'm not cheating on you." So let me ask again, What do you say when you know you've made a promise you couldn't keep?