When we got invited to attend the reunion of Travel Group 1444, I was immediately excited. We would get to meet Michelle, Molly's foster sister from China! I would get to hug Midge (Michelle's Mommy) and thank her for all the wonderful comments she has left on my blog in the past! We would get to meet more families who have adopted from China!
Then I started feeling like a loser. Why are we crashing this party? Why didn't I put my energies into arranging a reunion of our own Travel Group instead of schlepping along to someone else's party? Would these people even accept us or want us around??
While I tried to keep my "excited" face on, I don't think I was fooling everybody. In fact, I know I wasn't fooling Molly. While she and Carson played quietly while we packed up the car...
...I could tell something was bothering her. When I kept trying to get her to talk about it, it finally came out: she thought we were taking her back to China! Oh, baby girl, that is NEVER going to happen! She saw all the proof she needed. After all, we packed up all our stuff and were planning to go away. (It wasn't all of our stuff, but it must have looked like it to Molly.) Plus, Molly pointed out, I kept talking about her mei mei from China.So as we got in the van to leave, I promised Molly that we would only be staying at the hotel for two bedtimes, then we would come back. I also promised that Mommy would stay with her every moment of the trip...that nobody was leaving anybody at the hotel. She hesitantly tried to believe me.
When we arrived at the hotel, our first order of business was to get our stuff up to the room. However, as we stood waiting for the elevator, I saw Midge in the indoor pool. Our eyes met and she came running out to the lobby. We hugged like old friends.
Maybe this was going to be OK after all!!
We took Molly and Carson into the pool area to meet Michelle. What I had envisioned as this wonderfully sweet reunion of long-lost sisters (picture running, slow motion, through fields of flowers) was so NOT that. In fact, it was awkward. Molly kept repeating, "This feels weird." I had to agree with her.
We headed up to our hotel room to change the kids into their swimsuits. We figured a quick dip in the pool before dinner was a good reward for them being so good on the road trip. During this quick dip in the pool, I learned a very important lesson.
DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON KIDS AT A SWIMMING POOL!
One would think, as a mom for 17 years now AND a pediatric nurse, that would not have been a new lesson for me. However, as we entered the pool area, I headed toward a chair to drop our towels on a chair. When I turned around to face the pool, Carson was in the midst of drowning.
I'm not kidding here.
He saw the pool set-up...steps down into the pool, just like the pool in our neighborhood back home...and assumed (incorrectly) that all pools are created equally. See, the pool in our neighborhood has steps that go down into 3 feet of water. These pool steps, however, descended directly into 5 feet of water. Thinking he was safe, Carson didn't even wait for permission. He headed in...and quickly found out that he was, literally and figuratively, in over his head.
I stood there in a true state of panic. Time slowed as I watched my Little Man gasp for air with panic in his little eyes. I was fully clothed and didn't know what to do. Do I jump in the pool or not? My first instinct was to jump in...but then I realized something.
Carson was swimming to the side of the pool.
Yes, my Little Man with the shoulder and elbow contractures -- the boy we had always said would probably never be able to swim due to his "special" arms -- was swimming. He wasn't swimming a typical swim stroke, but he was slowly and surely getting closer to the side of the pool. I figured that jumping in would make a big splash and create more trouble for him. When he got to the side of the pool, he was crying like a loon. I couldn't have been prouder! I pulled him up and out of the water and hugged him so tightly.
Yes, he needed to learn not to get in a pool without adult supervision. However, I was so proud of him for keeping his wits about him and saving his own life! Wow.
After the pool time was up (during which Carson was too petrified to enjoy himself), we headed to grab some dinner and meet the whole Travel Group at a downtown park. We got terribly lost (GPS, we have discovered, is not infallible) but finally found our way. And fun was had...
...as the Littles ran through the coolest water park, fully clothed. (Those who know me and my anal retentive ways should be very impressed!) As the evening began to wind down, Molly started getting a bit apprehensive...
...and finally ended up, for little apparent reason...
...in a full-blown meltdown! We were shocked! I have never seen Molly act like that! After Carson and Meggie had a water bottle fight...
...we were off to the hotel. Day One complete...and what a day it was!
Well THAT turned out to be an eventful day. Goodness! I'm so glad Carson was ok! He was very brave not to completely panic. Good job!
ReplyDeleteWe had something similar happen in our own backyard when the twins were four. I was standing RIGHT there, and in a split second Ryan was at the bottom of the pool looking up at me with huge, terrified eyes!
Poor, sweet little Molly. She had to have been scared out of her mind thinking how much she love y'all and what if you were leaving her somewhere. But what a wonderful job you're doing of reassuring her and helping her understand that you'll never let her go! She's precious. I've enjoyed watching her grow and blossom on your blog.
I think It's great that you 'crashed' another's party. Frankly we're all in this together and it's our mommy job/right to keep those relationships strong. So good on you, and perhaps I'll just have to do the same one day (-:
ReplyDelete~Roberta