Monday, February 25, 2008

6 Months

Today is the 6th month anniversary of the day we met Smiley for the first time. We had been traveling for 2 days and hadn't had a shower or much sleep. We had time to drop our bags off at the guest house, grab some lunch, and then we were off to the orphanage.

The drive seemed to happen in slow motion. I remember each and every second of it. We got to the big blue gates and our driver, Solomon, honked for the guard to let us in. We parked next to the office and Solomon asked us our son's name. I had a moment of panic because I knew I wasn't pronouncing it correctly, something that would happen each and every time someone asked his name for the entire trip! (Matewos is pronounced Mah-tea-oss if you want to know!)

Solomon headed off to let the nannies know we were there and we got our first chance to look around at the orphanage compound.


It was very surreal after all those months of waiting to be finally standing in the place where my son was. Since it was Sunday, the office was closed but Solomon came back and found a key to let us into the meeting room. It was full of overstuffed couches and chairs with ugly, stinky, red carpet. It had a metal door with an arched top with a big window in it. I paced up and down that carpet for what seemed like years waiting for them to bring my son to me. Zman stood calmly by, watching me like a science experiment, posed to get the first meeting on video.

I'll never forget when he arrived, all dressed in white, being held by his nanny, framed in that arched door window. It's like a picture in my mind; a moment captured forever. Time was slow. She came in. I walked over and touched his hand. I tried so hard not to just snatch him up but to give him sometime to adjust to this strange, new person. After what felt like years I took him in my arms. I laugh now to watch the video as all my percieved constraint really only lasted about 5 seconds!

He was terrified! He shook with fear and stared wide eyed at us. It took several days and may hours of visits for him to begin to feel more comfortable with us. I swore when I saw the photos and video of that day I would never show then to another living soul. I look so terrible, jet lagged and in desperate need of a shower, but the farther away from that day we get, the more I only see the joy and love of a family, meeting for the first time.




7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so sweet.

Elle said...

doesn't matter how jet lagged or tired you were, you looked beautiful. A mom meeting her son for the first time.

Sandi said...

Thank you for sharing that video. You look gorgeous. What a precious video.

Jenny and Matt said...

Aww.. thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Oh - that is BEAUTIFUL. Really, it is just exactly perfect, and I'm so glad you posted it! Thank you!!1

Maggie said...

That is a beautiful video. And you look beautiful in it, too. Tears of happiness trump some jet lag-induced issues any day.

Melanie said...

Very moving video.....
So awesome to have it captured on video!!

Mel