Returning

Nearly two years later to the day, we made it through immigration and customs at O'Hare airport, returning home from China just days before Christmas for the second time. I realized it as we walked down the same corridor tonight, that it was just this time and place two years ago that we were about to introduce Gwen to her grandparents and siblings who were waiting anxiously to see her face.

This time, the feeling of returning home from China was different. Our family was together, coming off the first 6 months of a different kind of adventure than the adoption one had been. Because this time China isn't just the far away place we went to get our daughter, but rather it's our home, at least for a time. A home that we've grown familiar with at least a piece of, and that we've grown to love.

But China is still a foreign place to us in many ways, a lot because of the language barrier. One of the things I was most looking forward to about being in the US again was understanding everyone, not just a select few. At the O'Hare airport I went into a newstand to look for some contact solution, which I had forgotten to buy before we left China. I walked right in and asked for it, and the women working at the counter found it for me, just like that. I almost cried with the ease of the transaction. No fruitless hunting on my own, unable to communicate my needs. Just ask.... ahhhh.

Everywhere in the two US airports we were in tonight I could read all the signs... again, ahhh. In the airport restroom, Gwen asked me if I had tissues. "We don't need them," I answered her. "In America they have toilet paper in the bathroom for you." Ahhh, the comforts of home.

As we left the airport in our rental car, all the streets were familiar. The short way we traveled to Scott's parents' home felt like going back in time. They are streets we've driven hundreds of times, since our childhood. Are all these places still here? Even after we've gone far from them, they waited for our return.

And then we pull into the driveway, the familiar driveway. Snow covers the grass, and the Christmas tree lights shine in the front window. Inside, Nanny waits for us. There are cookies in a tin on the kitchen counter, and milk in the refrigerator waiting to be poured. It's nearly 1 a.m. local time, and we are home.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

It's beautiful day in Shanghai. Sunshine, high 50's. The maintenance crew in our complex planted hundreds of pansies this afternoon, in deep, jewel tone colors. My girls climbed little trees out behind our building with a friend, and the boys skateboarded in their shirt sleeves. I relished the time outside, watching the kids and visiting with a neighbor in the adjacent building.



But actually, this isn't what I'm looking for right now, nice as it is. No, I'm dreaming of colder weather... perhaps even a white Christmas. With the weather the U.S. Midwest has had over the last few days, the chances of a white Christmas are very good.



Because tomorrow we're leaving the 60 degree weather that's forcasted for Shanghai, getting on a plane for the long trip towards that snow in the Midwest... home for Christmas.



That's where half our hearts are, after all.

List

Last night I started a list of things I would like to buy in the US when we are home at Christmas. We've been making a mental list for a few weeks, and I decided I'd better get it on paper so we don't forget. Some of these things must be available here, but either I haven't found them yet, or the ones I have found just aren't the variety we are used to.



Here is the beginning of the list:

chocolate chips
vanilla, and other flavorings for baking
instant pudding
ranch dressing (it's available at City Shop, but is in such high demand they're almost always out of it)
dry onion soup mix
envelopes of taco seasoning
vanilla chai tea bags
contact solution
good smelling mousse
cold cream
stuff to stop Gwen from biting her nails
hair rubber bands for the girls
Scotch tape (the real stuff, not cheap imitations)
colored construction paper