Greetings from SFO
My alarm went off at 4:30 am this morning. I was already somewhat awake, anticipating the alarm that would lead to the shower that would lead to being ready to get in the cab at 6 am. We drove away from the quiet darkness of our neighborhood, and I looked back at my home as if I’d never see it again. I took in the lights and textures of Seattle in the same way as we drove to the airport. I can’t seem to understand that I’ll be back in a little over three weeks. I think this will occur to me slowly, as we start thinking and talking about returning home.
We’re here nice and early for our connecting flight. When we checked in at SEA this morning, our flight information said, “may be delayed due to air traffic control.” Panic. Turns out there was just some fog at SFO (shocking), and they were being conservative. Now we’re on to Beijing!
Thanks to everyone for your calls, e-mails, voicemails, cards and lovely gifts. I wasn’t able to return everyone’s calls yesterday, but we did appreciate your well-wishes. Yesterday I needed to focus on taking care of Lily, packing, cleaning the house, and yes… doing yoga.
Now for the long plane ride that will bring us to China. I’m looking forward to being in the same time zone as Lina. It’s been irritating to me to be so out of sync with her days and nights. Now we will see dark when she does, sunlight when she does. Seeing her is something I simply cannot imagine. Right now I’m comforted by the fact that we’re getting closer to her every day. The length of the plane ride seems so trivial. I’ve brought some knitting, a book, my i-pod. If someone told me that I’d have to sit in the same seat for a week to get to this kid, I’d be ready to do it. Thirteen hours is nothing.
My next post will be from China. (How long have I waited to write that?)
Thanks for taking this journey with us.