The Story: Part 5 Dreaming

I haven't told this story to alot of people. I feel strange and a bit too exposed when I do, but it has been on my mind. It's also a part of how Evelyn became such a part of me so quickly.
Here's the thing. I have dreams and by dreams I mean Dreams. Dreams that carry portent or have some spiritual connection. I always have. Not like every night or even every month but, when I need them, they come. Also I am one of those people who believe in ghosts, mostly because since I was a child- I see them. I can tell you that when I married Leslie he was a non-believer and after living with me for fifteen years, he has no choice but to believe. I know it sounds kooky but there it is. I am not like the girl in that show Ghost Whisperer and I am not a psychic. I just dream sometimes and sometimes I see ghosts. Okay- everyone sufficiently freaked out now? Everyone thinking I am a kook? Good.
It was about the time that I mailed off all of that Dossier stuff and I was highly freaked. I had no idea how long the wait would be. I wasn't even sure that I would get a daughter out of that mess. I spent a major part of my time obsessing on this. I prayed an worried and cried and flailed about. If I wasn't worrying about actually getting her, I was worrying about what her life currently was, was she warm? was she hungry? was she loved?
One day I was home, in my kitchen all alone thinking hard about my future baby, with the windows closed. Doing the dishes. And I smelled pipe smoke. At the same time I smelled pipe smoke the hair on the back of my neck stood right up. Then I had an overwhelming sense of my father in law. Wayne had passed away several years before and we were very close. I loved him dearly and I know that the feeling was mutual. I smelled the pipe smoke and knew that something was trying to be said to me. I stood quietly and waited but the smell faded. Two days later the same thing happened except that I was sitting on my couch reading. Then it happened again. This time I got a little frustrated and I said "okay I know that you are there and I know that you are trying to tell me something but I am just not getting it, I am sorry, I just can't figure it out".
The next night I had a dream.
The dream started with me in this big empty house and I knew that Leslie was there, even if I couldn't see him. I could hear babies crying. I searched and searched until I found a big room full of cribs. I looked down and there lay this tiny baby-crying. I reached down to pick it up, but just then a woman appeared and shook her head "no" at me, she grabbed the baby before I could even get a grip on it. Then I looked up and Les was just standing there watching. This
happened at several cribs before I started crying. When I cried, Les just turned and walked away. I followed him but I couldn't find him. I searched the house again, this time for Leslie.
I finally saw him walking up some stairs to the attic. I followed. We held hands as we walked thru the door and into the attic.
The attic was dimly lit and entirely empty. It was as I was looking around that I noticed my father-in-law, Wayne was sitting just under a light, he was in his wheelchair and had a pipe in his hand. When we looked at each other, he smiled really big and I took a step to go and hug him but he held up his hand to stop me. I waited, confused. Then I realized that he had his head tilted and he was listening to someone, I could actually hear faint whisperings. He listened for a moment and then he nodded yes and he looked at me and he smiled and then he was just gone. I looked down and there in my hands was this maroon booklet with letters that I could not read on the front. They were in gold. I opened the book and I just couldn't make out any of the words. As I was puzzling this, I heard a door creak and looked up to see Leslie walking thru another door. I walked over to see what he was doing. When I pushed the door open, my face was flooded by sunlight and I blinked several times. When I could see properly again, I was looking out into a field of golden grass and Les was sitting on a blanket, picnic style and next to him was a small dark haired Asian girlie and she was eating a plum. They smiled at me. The dream ended just as a huge flock of birds took flight and flew overhead.
I woke up, the next morning and I KNEW that something special had taken place. I knew that there was a child for me and I knew that Wayne was watching over her. Yes most of the dream was not hard to interpret, I mean the babies that I could not hold? That's easy. The searching? That's easy. But then there were things that were right on that I had no idea about. There were things that proved to be true. Very true.
We can fast forward a bit as there is no surprise to spoil, we all know how things ended. There I was on the day of the referral call. I was frantically taking down information, they told me that her name was Yi Fu Mei. That Yi was her surname given for the city she was found in (Yichun). Then they said "her name Fu Mei means Lucky Plum" PLUM! That was the fruit that the dream girl was eating. I knew then that there was no doubt, Evelyn Elaine Fu Mei was mine. I sat there, with chills all over my body and I got completely silent, I remember that the caller had to ask if I was there several times before I could even speak again.
Then there we were in China. The day that we met Ev. We had to go to our room for a bit and then meet up with everyone for paperwork. There at that meeting we all three sat for a picture. Then our guide walked over and handed me a maroon booklet with golden Chinese letters on the front-our Adoption Certificate. The one piece of paper that meant that officially- she was ours. I opened the book and, nearly fell down. I could not make the words out. It looked exactly like that dream booklet because my eyes were swimming with tears. Now I knew that I would get a certificate, I knew that there would be things handed to me- of course I did. But I never saw a picture of an Adoption Certificate before or since we were in China. Families have too much going on to photograph each document.
My dream came true. Yes indeedy - my dream came true.