Coming Home

Finally it was time to wake up in Hong Kong and slog through the airport and make our way to our gate for the first flight home. It involved: (brace yourselves) long lines, Immigration, Customs a train ride, a potty stop, 14 hours on one plane, O'Hare with the luggage carousel that would not yield our luggage, some hasty re-packing, Immigration stops- two of them, more luggage scanning, re-checking of the luggage, some wandering around, a train ride to the wrong terminal, a train ride to the correct terminal, Security, a failed attempt at a meal, a hasty bottle on the floor at the gate, the final boarding and 50 minutes of flight to arrive at Cleveland Hopkins at the farthest point possible from Luggage.....
I had Liam strapped to my front and a heavy back pack on my back and we trudged along, waiting and hoping to see familiar faces....
Then, all of the sudden, there they were! Family, my family, standing there, cheering us those last few feet. They had huge smiles and awesome posters and I cried. Because I was home. Because I had missed them desperately. Because no matter how many stories I tell them, we will have still been there without them and they will never be able to truly get that trip.
Ev and Brev took off like they hadn't missed a beat. I was gasping and trying to get bits of the trip out, oh the stories we have....Liam was there on my chest freaking out a bit. I think he was afraid that they were going to take him from us so at one point he just sort of closed off and hid his face in my chest. It seemed he was a hit with his family though.
We got our luggage and we went to the cars and we drove the 20 minutes home. The sky over Cleveland seemed disturbingly clear and beautiful after so many days of a smog filled sky.
We pulled in the drive way and there was my cat, sitting and waiting in my kitchen window and that was such a relief, as I truly missed that booger every day that we were gone.
What can I tell you about walking back into your home after such a life changing trip, when you have your son on your hip and this is it, the first true Home that he is ever being carried into? It is overwhelming in the nicest way.
Thanks to my family and Jodi, we walked into a house full of presents and balloons. My Mom and Melissa had a feast prepared and we ate and talked and watched a bit of the movies. Liam seemed to understand that he was home, or we were at least in the biggest Hotel room ever. He didn't cling too long before he was down and exploring, begging food and being interested/ suspicious of Billy.

And so the incremental march to a new normal began.
We were home and our tummies were full and I was merely feet from my own bed.


I know that my posts about this trip were maybe cursory and very "sum up-y" and possibly a bit more in the negative side rather than offering a true picture. I have to say that some of that was the jet lag, ok most of that was the jet lag. I know that it was because as that is clearing I am starting to think "it wasn't THAT hard was it?" And then I remember that, possibly, it was. The only comfort that I have is that our travel group was mostly seasoned adopters and they were all saying and feeling the same things that we were, still are in e-mails, in fact.
I do have some things that I want to talk about as far as the trip goes- maybe a more realistic look than just getting it out and off my chest. We'll see.
But for now we are here and have 2 nights of ok sleep under our belts and things are settling in and it feels ......good.
I looked at my son's bits last night ( toes and fingers and cheeks and fat legs) and I realized that he is what we needed. He is a good fit and, man, is he ours.



Also I think my sister did an awesome job on the updates. I think she should start her own blog.