The One Where Dave Goes "Huh!"

Dave sez,

The weekend here is winding down. National Adoption Month is winding down as well. Tomorrow begins my fifth week here bringing our second son, Ethan, home. I talked to Igor on Friday, and he said that give or take a day, the final court decree should come either Tuesday or Wednesday. That means either one of those days, I should be heading out with Vicktor to get Ethan's new birth certificate. We should be able to get his birth certificate and tax identification number in the same day. Last year, it was a very long day. We had gone to the regional office of vital records and gotten the process started that didn't take very long. I had to go down to Maidan station, and change over to the other platform there. Maidan station is part of the "Blue Line", or secondary line, that runs North-South. I had to go to the other platform, the "Red Line", or primary line, that runs East-West. There is a third, "Green Line" that runs Northwest-Southeast. I had to take the Red Line to the last stop West, and meet Vicktor at the McDonald's there. I was pretty familiar with the Red Line - in the sense that I KNEW that there was a Red Line and that there was another platform in the subway. I was not familiar with how to get to that platform or which direction I need to go. I had to meet Vicktor at 9am, so I was down in the subway station trying to get to the Red Line platform by going the wrong direction into a sea of incoming commuters. I ended up walking against one wall of the tunnel. A woman on the Red Line train pointed at my right arm, the one that had been up against the tunnel wall. I had gotten the white chalky dust from the wall on my hat, the arm and some of the back of my coat. D'oh! This year, before Cathy left, we did some exploring and I found another way to get to the platform. We also found a walkway to the other side of Independence Square, under the street, and the mall there. That mall is smaller, and pretty much runs around in a circle. It is two or three floors. It is taller, but narrower.

So, last year, Vicktor and I went from the regional office to the office in Kiev. We had gotten there sometime between eleven and eleven thirty. We spent a lot of time there waiting. Lunch time every where here is from one to two in the afternoon. At that time, the two of us, and the dozen or more people waiting in the lobby with us, were invited to exit the building. The building was locked for the hour lunch break. We found a shopping mall a few blocks away. There we found a coffee shop. Vicktor bought me a cappuccino. I'm not a coffee drinker. Oh, did I mention that I was nervous, and I had started the day by pounding an energy drink? A Ukrainian energy drink that was probably ten times stronger than a Berry Mt. Dew Amp? And that at the regional office, our first stop, Vicktor graciously bought me a hot tea. Now, he was really killing me with kindness by buying me a cappuccino. He smiled as I spent the rest of the afternoon, running next door to wedding reception building to use their restroom. The reason for the long wait was that the office supervisor was out sick and the staff were being extra careful to make sure every thing was done correctly and nothing was amiss. We finally got Justin's new birth certificate by five-thirty, and by 5:55, we had his tax identification number. I was back to Independence Square by a little after seven. My eyes didn't stop vibrating until two or three in the morning, I was so wired from caffeine.

I don't plan on doing that this year. I've steered clear of the energy drinks. I think I might bring something to read, just in case.

I can't believe that Cathy has been home for a week now...

Back home, actor Larry Hagman; son of the legendary actress Mary Martin, and known for I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas has passed away. On the way to the orphanage, traffic was backed up in the opposite direction by a funeral procession. As the bus passed by, I could see a priest carrying a cross with mourners walking in front and in back of a blue pickup. It was a cab with a bed that had no sides. Laid out with flowers was someone's grandmother. I imagined her as that sweet old woman from An Affair to Remember. Cary Grant's sweet grandmother. That's what she looked like from my seat on the bus going by. One of the other passengers pointed out how far back traffic was backed up behind this slow moving procession. I wondered where the cemetery was. It had to be somewhere nearby, but probably tucked away off this road that we've gone back and forth to the orphanage on.

It was then that I went, "Huh", to myself. Back home, Linda Gray was saying how Larry Hagman was her friend for thirty-five years, Barbara Eden was saying how much fun she had as co-stars for five seasons. Fans have been posting accolades. Here, I was watching nearly an entire block lay someone's grandmother to rest in peace.

You never know what tomorrow brings.

That's why I tell my kids, "Never let you go. Never, ever let you go." Last year, Justin ran it all together as "Nevuhletchago! Nevuhevuhletchago!" Ethan looks at me kinda puzzled when I say it.

Today, Ethan and I had lunch together and we watching Transformers 3 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, dubbed in Russian. We have Transformers 3 at home, I haven't watched it yet. It looks pretty good. I got to see Masha a little, along with the other children. We all watched Harry Potter together.

Tomorrow we enter the teens. We will be nineteen days away from bringing Ethan home. As excited about that as I am, I think I'm going to be a little sad. Last year, Justin and I said "Baka", goodbye to the children here, including Ethan. We got to see him over New Year's. It's been a long year being apart from him. We will be saying "Baka" again in just a few short weeks. I have a feeling it is going to be just as hard this year as it was last year.