Preparing for the trip

On January 21, 1996, Cherese moved out of her apartment and back home to Long Beach to prepare for her trip. We had lived in this home for 24 years and in December 1995 we bought another home just 1 mile away. We moved just 16 days after Cherese left for Semester At Sea. I often think if we had not moved, Cherese would still be coming home, bringing her laundry and having spaghetti for dinner with us.

  We spent the next ten days together shopping for her trip. She needed a backpack, camera, clothing and even netting to cover her face from mosquitoes, as she was highly allergic to them and was terrified she would get lots of bites. During those last ten days, Cherese said her good-byes to friends, co-workers and family. She went ice skating with Brian and we celebrated Todd's 23rd birthday at Red Lobster. We had so much fun that night!

  The next day we took out the home movies and Cherese and I spent hours remembering those treasured moments caught on tape. She smiled when she saw me holding Todd and my tummy was quite large, I was pregnant with her. Shortly after, I was holding Cherese in my arms, coming home from the hospital. And before we knew it, she was graduating from high school.

  January 30, 1996, two days before the trip, Brian came to say goodbye to Cherese and so did Todd and his girlfriend, Tere. We took a few pictures, but I regret not having more and not using the video camera. I remember the hugs and kisses as Todd wished his sister a safe and happy trip, and like all of us, expecting to see Cherese back home after 100 days, looking forward to hearing about all her adventures.

  February 1, 1996. Cherese and I had stayed up the entire night. We were in her room, sitting on the floor, talking about so many things. I was writing her name on everything. After stuffing her backpack, it was too heavy for her to even stand up. We started removing clothing until Cherese could stand and walk with all the weight on her back. It was about 4:00 a.m. and we were both tired. We didn't have much time left since her flight was at 7:10 a.m. at the Los Angeles airport. Cherese was getting nervous, and mentioned to me how happy she was at UCLA, she said, "I almost wish I wasn't going now," everything was going so well for her. How I wish I would have kept her home then.

  We loaded the car with all the luggage and Cherese said goodbye to Miss Kitty, her cat. She stared at the house and smiled, remembering all her memories of growing up there. On the way to the airport, Cherese was very quiet in the back seat of my car. We had not allowed ourselves much extra time, and when we arrived at the terminal, it seemed even less. We sat down for a few minutes to talk. We told Cherese to call us whenever she could, to take lots of pictures, especially with her in them and to be careful wherever she was.

I kept thinking to myself, how am I going to manage 100 days without my little girl, after all, if we didn't see each other everyday, then we were talking on the phone everyday! I think I was already starting to miss her at that moment. I wanted to take her picture then, but she said, no. Suddenly, they announced the boarding call, it was time to depart. We cried as we held Cherese in our arms so tightly, we didn't want to let go of her. We told her again, how much we loved her and she replied with, "I love you too, Mom and Dad." We repeated ourselves several times and also said, "please be careful, please be safe."

  Finally, we had to let go and Cherese faded from our sight as she boarded the airplane. Larry and I sat down again and waited for the plane to take off. When we could no longer see it, we headed back to our car to come home. Larry and I just looked at each other, knowing we both felt the same, hoping our daughter would be safe. We knew Cherese was smart, we knew she could make wise choices and decisions, but, what we did not know, was that Cherese would be lied to and her itinerary changed without her consent or knowledge. We did not know they would be negligent and put Cherese on a bus at night on the Grand Trunk Road in India and end her life on a dark road…