Meeting Lucy ...

I can’t believe I didn’t write this down earlier. These are important memories. I was busy living in the moment at the time, and being exhausted in the months that followed. Somewhere is a little notebook that Sara, one of my travel companions (and good friend) kept while we were in Ethiopia. That notebook would be handy right now. Here is what I remember: We left day on October 22 2005. Before we left we watched the Maya Wrap Sling how to use DVD. The DVD made me nervous, the Maya Wrap seemed more complicated then a sling should be … I remember something about a “shoulder cap flap” and the importance of having that placed correctly. Hmmmm. I figured, we’d survive, shoulder cap flap or not. We got to the Minneapolis airport early but it helped calm my nerves. Our baggage was checked through Washington DC. We ate lunch at Chili’s in the airport. I kept thinking about Lucy and how far away she still was. Our flight went smoothly to DC. Once we got our luggage we made our way to Ethiopian Air to check in. The man at the check in was suspicious about why I had a ticket for a baby for just the way back. I was nervous, wondering if it was supposed to be some sort of secret or something … even when I let out the truth about adopting, he still seemed very confused about where the baby was…. He let us on the plane anyways. We were seated and ready for a long flight … and it was a LOONNNGGG flight. We slept very little. The plane was SO HOT. I have never been in such a hot “vehicle” my whole life … and we were stuck there for eternity. Before we got on the plane we connected with the two other families who were staying at the center at the same time as us … one was a family from MN, adopting a 4 yr old girl, the other family was from Atlanta, adopting a 1 yr old girl. Finally after forever, the plane touched ground in Addis. What joy! It was simple getting through immigration and collecting our luggage. We didn’t wait long before we connected with Tesfaye and Massy. They took us to the guest house. We walked by the rooms where the babies were sleeping/crying. One of the nannies said “oh Eskedar” when I said “Eskedar?” They didn’t want me seeing her that night. It was hard but I walked up the flight of stairs to where the guest rooms were. We settled in our room. It actually wasn’t hard falling asleep that night … but I (we) woke up very early the next morning … a combination of the loud call to prayer, the excitement and the jet lag. After breakfast we waited around anxiously for Tswaye to come and get us … FINALLY she came … and we were brought downstairs to a room. She asked us some questions about what we wanted to do that week … I barely remember that. She then asked if we were ready to meet our children. I was first, since the other children were at the care center down the street. Lucy was sleeping in the last crib on the left. Sleeping on her tummy under mosquito netting. I lifted her out of her bed … heaven. She was wearing a sleeper with a pink elephant … the pink elephant was what I picked out as her “theme animal” long before. I had the same sleeper in a larger size at home. Because of the enormity of the emotion of that moment, I focused on the wonder of that pink elephant. I held her and stared at her It wasn't until MONTHS later when I saw a video clip that I realized how noisy that room was.