2014 is going to be one of those years that stick out in my life. In many ways, it was a year that was the opposite of 2010. 2010 was filled with misery and grief; 2014 with happiness and joy.
You'd think with the events of 2014, the fondest memory would be meeting our kid for the first time (when she walked right up to Lauren, pointed to her face, and said 'glasses'), bringing her home for the first time, or the day the adoption was granted by the courts. But my fondest memory happened on the evening of 21st June.
My dad, sister, and niece were coming to visit - the first family to visit us since our kid had moved in, in March. They were due to land in the early afternoon. I had the grand plan of taking the kid to the airport and they would meet her for the first time then.
We drove to the airport, played on escalators for a while; my family's flight landed, passengers came off, and they were nowhere to be seen. Not until that point did I check my email to see that they had been delayed and would not be coming until that evening, about the kid's bedtime.
We drove back home.
Even though it was late in the day for the kid, I decided the two of us would go to the airport for the second time that day.
We got there, and my family's flight had landed already. We had missed the chance to see them as they entered the terminal. We saw that their bags were already at the carousel.
That's when it happened. The moment that sticks out most for me in 2014 - a moment I will never forget.
I was looking for my dad, sister, or niece and I couldn't see them. All of a sudden, our kid starts shouting 'Aunty Em?!' over and over - she had seen my sister, Emily, before I had, and was so excited to see her in the flesh, after seeing her on Skpye every weekend for a couple of months. She kept saying 'Auntie Em?! Auntie Em?! Auntie Em?!' She was bordering on tears of joy, as I was - and I am, as I write this.
When Emily came to the partition that separates the passengers who are getting their bags from the rest of us, our kid was more than happy to have Emily give her a hug (and maybe even hold her, I honestly don't remember). Our kid was SO hesitant to even be around a new person that this was mind-blowing.
I love my sister with all my heart - the person who is most like me - so in many ways it made sense that our kid would have no problem going to this person she had never met. But witnessing that moment is one I can't ever forget. The moment the two Tuesday-named ladies with the last name that's a first name, met for the first time.
 |
| Our kid walking with Auntie Em while my niece points out something to my dad, at the Edinburgh Zoo |
