I don’t know why people ask me this question, particularly my mom and aunt. When my aunt visited China in September, right before she left, she kept asking, “Will you miss me?” In the last few days, my mom has been asking the same thing, “Will you miss me?”

I know they are expecting me to say “Yes, a million times yes. I will miss you dearly,” but why? They will never reciprocate. I remember when I asked my mom the same question when I was about to visit China for 4 months in 2017, she said, “Why? You’re not about to die.”

When she came into my room last night, placed her arms around my shoulder, and asked me the same question, half of me wanted to reply with the same answer. “Why? You’re only gone 3 weeks. You’ll be back.”

I feel like, for short-term travel, the word “miss” is such a strong word. I feel like, the word “miss” should be used for something long-term and perhaps permanent, like someone I’ll never see again or something I cannot or will not ever do again. What do you think?

For the question of “will you miss me”, I feel my appropriate answer would be, “Yes, I’ll be thinking of you but no, I will not miss you.” Besides, I doubt I’ll miss her as I doubt she’ll be radio-silence for the next 3 weeks because I know she’ll need help with something. I can only hope my break from my mom will be peaceful.