My Girl

The girl child and I had a weekend of serious mother/daughter bonding thanks to the male half of our people doing their own form of mano e mano up at Lake Mead.

Because we could, we watched Steel Magnolias, ate donuts for breakfast and discussed wardrobe options at great and sometimes painful length.

We visited with friends...friends who, I might add, have a big box in which lives every Disney Princess dress and so a fashion show of sorts was had... a fashion show that mainly consisted of running at full tilt boogie through Shelley's den as: Belle! (there were almost blows thrown about Belle) Cinderella! Mulan! Snow White! You get the idea.

There was Internet Super-twin Salsa action (as well as several other families of just precious and gorgeous children) a lovely evening that included such highlights as many nice people and maybe my accidental twin napping (blame the inability of the host of the restaurant to distinguish from: large group of people with Chinese children vs. large group of people with Spanish children.). As Eva was allowed to be the photographic representative, using my cell phone no less, I, not surprisingly, have no documentation of the fun.

I am now up at the crack of dawn because every single one of our 4 dogs is reminding me that when a person forgets to buy the regularly eaten and canine approved dog food and instead grabs the only thing on the shelf at the market, no matter how enthusiastically the new strange kibble is devoured, there is bound to be payback.

And so, as I sit here with windows and doors open, airing out the toxic gasses, I see the date and realize that today is the 3 year anniversary of our referral of EvaJun. 3 years ago this little dolly baby was stamped and approved as: daughter to Kristin and Hugh, sister to Jake and Jack - come get her please.

I have to remember not to be surprised by such a thing as referral day... that some official in China sat at their post revolution issue desk and created for me this wonderful, never to be fully comprehended, blessing. It's more like she is Athena and has sprung, fully formed, from my head... or maybe my heart.

And so my girl, on this day, 3 years ago, sat strapped to her foster mother's back, a place where apparently much of that first year was spent... explaining perhaps the early distaste for hip slings, Baby Bjorns, and even strollers, unaware that her life, had just taken a turn that would lead her away from the land of her birth and to the land of mine... and as she sat there, taking in all that a 10 month old can receive... the coolness of an October day in her rural village, the sing song rhythm of her foster mother's voice, maybe the sight of other babies, I, on the other side of the world, cried great sobs of joy and relief and thanksgiving.

EvaJun, December 2004