May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
~ An Old Irish Blessing
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you very much for sending the sunshine my way today. I am very thankful that the day started out bright and cheerful. That makes a huge difference, being so far away from home and family on a day like today. A cloudy, grey sky and fog would not have been right today. Hopefully you are enjoying the same where ever you are spending your Thanksgiving. This is the first time that Cathy and I have not been together on Thanksgiving, and one of the few times I can remember that I could not watch the annual parade. I've worked Thanksgiving morning before and missed the parade. But unlike Joey Tribbiani, the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade is kinda something I look forward to. That and the New Year's Day Parade. I could probably sleep in, but nah.
It is just another day here. Thursday. A week day. A work day.
I didn't feel like walking, so I took the Number Eighteen, grabbed the usual at McDonald's and headed to the subway.
There are three smaller fountains lining the walkway through Independence Square from the larger fountain that circles the glass dome over the underground mall to the subway. There is a center strip of grass along a glass roof over another section. We've rarely walked on the other side of THAT, so I don't know if there are another three fountains that have been dismantled for the winter. Where the mall and the square meet there are a number of different entrances from above ground to an underground walkway that is lined with different convenience kiosks much like the ones along the street by the SDA. There are a couple of restaurants, one that specializes in potatoes; the other I'm not sure, Cathy and I didn't go inside, and I have no inclination to go in by myself. This second restaurant is surrounded by a bakery stand, a donut stand and a waffle stand. There is another waffle stand toward the middle of the underground walkway, where a person can get a heated waffle with chocolate, caramel or other toppings and maybe even whipped cream if I remember right from last year. Since Ethan is on a pretty steady diet of McDonald's, his first meal after leaving the orphanage may be the potato. Maybe with a waffle chaser.
Today we are twenty-three days away from coming home, if Cathy's math is right. We are winding down the ten days until we get the courts final decree, and I can get a new Ukrainian birth certificate naming Cathy and I as Ethan's parents. That, and his tax identification number can be done in a day. Then he needs to get a passport photo. Then I have to ask what day he can leave the orphanage and come back with me to the apartment in Kiev.
But, for today, Ethan and I settled for breakfast, an abbreviated English lesson and a half hour of soccer outside. He still has a cough, but it is not as bad as it has been. The sunshine today was too good to waste. So we went outside for a little bit of soccer, and when he got bored with it, we came back in and sat down for some Nickelodeon.
We were watching T.U.F.F. Puppy, when I saw something to cool to pass up. S'mores! The heroes had gone to Camp Itchy Owie Boo Boo, and the dog was gobbling down s'mores. I pointed and said "S'mores!" Ethan said, "You bring, tomorrow?" No, all four of us make s'mores over a camp fire when we go camping in the summer! "You NO bring, tomorrow?" No, s'mores in America. "Oh, s'mores, America!"
After a while we went back outside and played some more soccer. It didn't take him long to get bored with soccer, but not bored with being outside. we wandered around the playground for a while. Then, he got the idea to call me a "crazy frog" and get me to chase him around.
Most of the time we've spent has been one-on-one. Today, while we were watching television one of the little ones from the nursery, Sasha, sat with us. One of the ladies would come and get him and take him out of the room somewhere, but within a few minutes he would come running back in and sit down with us. he has a hack more serious than Ethan, so the nurse came in and gave him something for it. Within a few minutes he had fallen asleep on the couch, and the next time he was carried off for good. Well, I didn't see him again before I left any way.
I hung out as long as I could, which equals an episode of Big Time Rush and Victorious and I still hadn't seen Masha. I even said goodbye to Ethan and waited a little longer outside to see if I could see her coming back from school. I didn't. I didn't want to be out much after dark, so I gave Masha's candy to Ethan, and told him to give it to her when she came in - and to give her hugs from both Mama and me.
That was the only cloud on a sunny day. Not having her run up to me, calling me "Popi" and giving me a big hug. I hope this is one of the few days I have to miss out on something like that. Ethan is going to realize that HE is heading home. She is not. Masha, like the other children will be staying at the orphanage when he leaves with me. I will have to make arrangements to visit a couple of times before we leave for the states, twenty-three days from today. I'm sure he will be glad to get home to Cathy and Justin. But I don't know that either of us is looking forward to leaving Masha behind.
It was a long, lonely walk to catch the 255 back. I don't enjoy leaving my kids and coming back by myself. I can't wait until I don't have to do that anymore.
...And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
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