Fifteen Years Ago

So here we are, fifteen years later.  Fifteen years ago is when we first saw Maddie's face in a series of pictures that we got in an email attachment.  It's surreal that it's been that long, but that's the thing about time - it adds up quickly, and then it keeps adding up, and then adding up again, and the next thing you know it's been fifteen years.  One thing I know is that it's been a good fifteen years.  We've had some challenges here and there, but Maddie has been wonderful.  It's hard to picture our family without her, what it was like before meeting her.  We waited for so long for that day, and now it's just one of those things that's been with us like it was always meant to be.  And of course it has been always meant to be.  it's just that at the time of waiting, you just don't know how things are going to pan out.  And then, right then on May 2nd, I get a notification from one of our friends that this could be the day, and so I tell Mom to get home right away which she does.  We sit there waiting, waiting, and waiting for that email.  And then it arrives, and then you see your daughter for the first time.  It's just a picture of her, and you imagine what she must be like.  You don't see smiles, and you see strange outfits where she's dressed up for winter despite the fact that it's super hot where she lives and you try to figure things out just from looking at a picture of a toddler in front of a photo wall.  In around six weeks, we knew, we'd all be heading over to China and staying there for a few weeks.  That in itself was surreal, a trip halfway around the world.  I should pull out the journal I was keeping at the time and read through the pages again, words written so long ago now by my own hand.  No doubt there were things I've forgotten by this point, which is the point of writing it down.  We remember quite a bit, but then other things drift away only to come flashing back in explosions of recollection with just a small sentence.  I remember the seat I was sitting in when I first saw her face, and I remember immediately sharing it with everyone I could.  People didn't realize we weren't going there until six or seven weeks later, but there it was.  We left the day after Summer Xtreme, and we were so tired.  But there was an energy and a hope that fueled us on, just as it had for the past two and a half years.

Anyway, we remembered today, and the fact that it was fifteen years ago seemed to hold a bit more significance.  We'll celebrate our first meeting in just a few weeks, and no doubt go eat Chinese or have some big celebration.  But today was a quiet day, and a look back with conversations about the passage of time, and the incredible moment we all shared so long ago.  

It was a cold day today, and a day where Maddie stayed home for a virtual day.  We didn't make any serious plans today, partly because we were so busy this past weekend, and Maddie has a lot of work to do as she finishes up this school year.  We did do some Weird Science work, and we did catch another squirrel too - number 16.  Also, it was Ye-Ye's birthday, so we had a super brief conversation with him as well.  We'll hopefully all get together soon enough.  

Tonight's movie was "Jesus Revolution," which we saw before in theaters, but it arrived today in the mail and we watched it on the television tonight together.  Afterwards, another episode of "Ultimate Spider-man," because Maddie is into Spider-man again right now, and when is there ever a time where we're not into Spider-man?  We read from our book before bedtime, and soon after that it was definitely time for rest.  We prayed, and we got to sleep early.  Or at least I did.  Maddie doesn't have to wake up early tomorrow, so who knows!