Happy Adoption Day (one day late)

January 4, 2012

Over the weekend I reminded Emily that our Adoption Day (the day I signed the registry at the Ministry of Women and Children in Nepal and she officially became my daughter) was on January 2, Monday, the day we would fly home. She got a big smile on her face, then declared that spending a day traveling wasn’t the best way to observe such a special occasion. Maybe that’s why I completely forgot about it yesterday until after she was asleep. Sheesh. I reminded her this morning, and we celebrated by going out to dinner this evening, with best friend Liliana and family joining us for the celebration.

Four years ago we became a family–though Emily Somu was my daughter in heart and mind for 13 months prior to that, from my first, rushed trip to Nepal at the beginning of Advent 2006 to meet her and accept the referral. Four years pass by in a blink. I’ve been thinking lately, “we’ve been a family for the length of time it will take her to go through high school, or college.” A blink. It is so cliche to say, “time flies,” but until I became a mom, I had no idea just how fast time could go–it speeds up exponentially, to warp speed. I periodically sing to myself James Taylor’s line, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” Not because I have managed to embody that attitude toward time, but because I aspire to. I don’t agree with the next bit, “Any fool can do it, There ain’t nothing to it.” I’m not a fool–at least not most of the time, and I think perhaps learning to enjoy the passage of time is one of the hardest things ANY of us learns to do. If in fact, we ever learn it at all. Most of us bemoan it, become wistful, or fearful, or just plain depressed by how short life is and how fast it goes. Hmmm. . . I wonder, maybe James’ point was that it takes a fool to do it–the rest of us think about things too much. But if that is the case, then I’ll be glad to put on the fool’s motley, because I really do want to learn to enjoy the passage of time.

Anyway, I am one lucky, blessed Mama. And I’m going to keep using James’ line as my mantra, until it sticks. Until I can just smile and relax and enjoy the ride–as he sings: “Isn’t it a lovely ride, Sliding down, Gliding down, Try not to try too hard. It’s just lovely ride.”

Here are some photos from our lovely ride: