December 18th

I had every intention of continuing on with Dance all Night II, but what can I say, I got distracted:) Since this week actually marks SIX months since we became a family, I thought I would instead share some of my reflections of those first few days. It does not seem possible to me that Friday marks SIX months together. I remember back to Vietnam and with every little waking moment I would whisper to my self “Remember this. Hold on to this. Don’t forget this.” It wasn’t just the moment he was placed in my arms for the first time or those first few private moments in the hotel together. It was driving down the road in a van of people of every nationality listening to the soccer game in Vietnamese on the radio. It was watching a grown man kiss my son on the lips upon meeting us. It was the sound of the rough sea as it pounded China Beach. It was watching Mama Chow (now known as Grandma Chow) love my son quite literally as her own grandchild.

At this very moment six months ago I had been in Vietnam less than twelve hours. Our flight arrived that Wednesday night. We were delayed by a couple of hours in S. Korea while Korean Air held the flight for another couple that was also adopting through my agency. I honestly don’t remember much of the flight. In the last two years prior to referral it was rare for me to sleep more than five or six hours at a time. I don’t know why, but my body and mind were always keyed up. I anticipated the same thing occurring with the twenty-four flight to VN (that’s twenty-four hours of flight time—that doesn’t include the layovers!) so I had requested a couple of sleeping pills from my doctor. To be honest, I never touched them. As soon as we boarded from LAX I was down for the count. I think I slept about eighteen or twenty consecutive hours.

When we arrived in the airport in Saigon, it was late. And hot. After clearing customs we exited the airport and I got to briefly experience what it must be to be a celebrity at a movie premiere. People were lined up from the doors all the way to the road—the people barriers were pushed forward. For what? I never did figure out. It didn’t look like that during daylight. We got to the hotel, made the obligatory calls home, showered, and looked at each other. We couldn’t believe we were finally here and I think Mom said something to that effect.

Six months ago from this very moment I awoke in Saigon and was en route to see my son for the first time. By 11 am we were on a plane on our way to Da Nang and I was just hours away from the Sandy Beach Resort. Hours away from the broken brick road that lead to my son. Six months.

~To Be Continued~