Mother's Day...Redux

The call came on a Tuesday.  That which we had waited for, our match, our son.  At the meeting with our social worker, we got this photo, and I lost my heart to you.  For months, I carried you with me everywhere I went.  So close to you, yet still so far away.

Tuesday, May 4, 1999.  The call came.  You were to arrive, in Philadelphia in one week.  One week!  One week and I'd hold my beautiful boy.

Tuesday, May 11...It was a day unremarkable to most.  But to me, it was Mother's Day.

Your plane was scheduled to arrive at 7:17, PM.  You remember, David, why I will always remember that exact time?  I told you of it this morning...your connection to my father, to your grandfather.

The plane landed...and everyone... everyone could sense the anticipation.  Coming off the plane people told me of the beautiful boy, the boy who didn't cry, the boy who was waiting so patiently to meet his forever family.

I'd waited so long, yet those last few minutes, those last seconds felt interminable.

Finally, the last of the passengers deplaned and the babies came.  Two pinks, girls, followed by 2 blues.  Daddy says he didn't know you at first, but I knew you the moment I saw you.  I'd carried you in my heart forever.  Your escort, the beautiful nameless woman who brought you safely to us, seemed reluctant to let you go.  'Good baby' she said, as she finally relinquished you to me.

Today, David, is a day, always will be a day, wrought with emotion.  As I waited on this side of the globe, another woman gave me the greatest gift of my life.  The gift of you.  I take time today to honor her, to revere her, as I do throughout the year.

But mostly, David, today is about you, and how you turned Daddy and me into a family.  Forever.  I love you two times.