Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability.

 

Little One, we weathered the storm. This Monday hurricane Sandy hit, locking your Dad and me in the house until this morning. Monday night was one of the hardest we've been through together. The eye of the storm passed right over our house. We slept in shifts on the couch, one of us asleep lulled by the sound of our hand cranked operated weather radio, the other holding a flashlight, vigilant to any noise of creak that could signal a tree about to crash onto our home. We huddled on the couch as a family, your Dad and I and all the pets. We protected each other.

In the quiet hours before the storm hit, but after the electricity had gone out your Dad and I made the best of it- we played pictionary, did crossword puzzles as a team and made hand shadows on the wall. We attached glow in the dark neon wristbands to doorways and the staircase to be able to navigate our own house. It's such a weird thing when there is no light- you're in a place so very familiar and yet it all looks so different, so alien. It's like meeting someone you forgot you met the first time- so familiar, yet so distant.

When the light of morning hit, we braced ourselves to open our front door and assess the damage. Walking hand in hand out the door, we were at the ready to call insurance agents and discuss deductables. Miraculously, nothing was damaged. There were branches, leaves, even garbage cans littering our front yard- but no damage.

We weathered the storm.

The most eerie part of it all was when our home was directly in the eye of the storm. It was one of my shifts to be awake, and as I stood looking out into our front yard, the hum of the generators making the air feel electric, everything suddenly fell quiet. No gusts of wind that howled like freight trains as there had been all night, no rain drops pelting the sidewalk with force- nothing. Just calm. Eerie, scary calm. It's that calm that comes right before an accident. It's that calm you remember last before you've forgotten everything else. It's the calm where all you can hear is yourself.

And I realized while looking out that window pane, that it's the calm we're in right now.

We're in the eye of the adoption storm.

The homestudy was hustle and bustle, the fall through and the scam were a mixture of hurt and picking ourselves back up and dusting ourselves off. We've stood strong in the wind and rain, and lately it's been calm. Quiet. Waiting.

But I know that soon, the winds will pick up again. The rain will soak through to our bones, we'll have to stand strong like we always have. But after that, it's over. The storm is gone, and the sun shines again.

We can't wait for your sunrise, LO.

Today is Halloween. It doesn't even feel like halloween, because your Dad is working late to make up lost time from the storm and we have barely any trick or treaters. And yet, I'm still lonely from it. I miss the children dressed head to toe in costumes, holding out bags asking for those sugar packed candies with bright eyes. I remember the days of my youth, going out with my parents in gorgeous homemade costumes my mother had spent months stitching together. Then, as a teenager- opting for the pop culture references that adorned the party store walls. I'm ready to be on the other side. I'm ready to cross over, to be the holder of the little hand across the street, the pusher of the stroller, the impromptu coat rack when costumes get too tiresome to wear at the end of the night.

I hope that next year, we'll have our little sunshine to dress up. I hope next year, I can cross over.

I hope that we're out of the eye soon, because we're well rested now.

We're ready for the wind now.

Waiting for you sunshine, 

Love always,

Mom