Deja Vu: Leavin' on a jet plane part 2

I'm sitting in the airport, in Washington D.C.

Again!

When I got on the plane the airline stewardess asked, looking from me to the ladybug Trunki bag and then back "Uhm......Where is the kid that goes with that bag?"

Funny you should ask, I said, I'm on my way to go get her!


I had several lengthy conversations with both of the ladies who were working on that flight, they were very curious about the adoption and our daughter and I was more than happy to share our story with them. You never know, maybe it will plant a little seed in someone's heart!

But to be honest, the ride was not terrible pleasant. By the time I got off the plane straight on to the tarmac from our tiny little plane I had decided: Tiny Planes Make Me Sick. There was no innocent sleeping passenger sleeping next to me this time, but I still nearly tossed my cookies. I like big planes better.

I arrived here, picked up some Chipotle for lunch (again!), and found my gate. I pulled out my laptop to check in and had that deja vu feeling.

I've been here before.

Almost exactly one month ago on January 16th, I sat here preparing to embark on an amazing journey, and wondered what it would be like to finally meet our girl.  Today, I sit here, hoping by the weekend to be legally declared her Parent.

Today, I know what she looks like in person. I can hear her laugh and recall the scent of her hair. Today I know what it feels like to get the biggest hug her sweet little self is capable of giving, and I know what it sounds like to hear her call out "Mama! Papa!" I know the feeling of her tiny hand in mine, gripping it tightly and smiling at me with her beautiful toothless grin.

And she knows us.

She knows what it feels like to sit on her Mama's lap. What it feels like to have her Mama and Papa sit on the floor to play with her, what it feels like when Mama hands her a cookie, or Papa helps her open a juice box, or Mama brushes her bangs out of her face.  She has just begun to feel what it is like to have a family.

(And she hasn't even met her amazing brothers and sisters yet!)

So, while some of this experience is the same much of it is different. The anxiety and worry over all the "what ifs" and unknowns is gone.  I've gone from wondering "Can I do this?" to "How did we ever live without you?"

I know what awaits me at the end of this long journey.

I am simply a Mama.  She is simply our daughter.  And I simply can't wait to see her again.