We were able to visit with nana and gramps in Naples for a lovely lunch. Ariana charmed the staff and received candy and two bracelets for her adorableness. Add this to the gifts given by her admirers at my mother's place and she made out quite well. Frankly, I was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of her getting gifts for just being cute, but it gave the older gift givers so much pleasure to see her face as she took each thing and said "thank you!" ........or at least smiled................ok, so sometimes she would just take the "thing" and run away, leaving me to sheepishly say "thanks".
Ariana really enjoyed grandma this visit - asking where she was was she wasn't with us; looking in on her and quietly announcing "gramma's sleeping"; putting on her nightgown and using her cane to walk around the apartment, then putting the cane back where she found it, which led my mother to announce "she is brilliant!" and greeting her with a big "morning gramma!"
Now that we are back, we will miss grandma, and nana and gramps too. That's the hard part about living here - we are so far away. While we keep in touch by phone and email, I regret that Ariana cannot spend more time with her family as they all enjoy each other so much.
While it seems that Ariana has been with us forever, it was actually one year ago that we were in China meeting this most incredible little girl. Wednesday was, in a way, just like any other day - filled with errands and phone calls, eating (or in Ariana's case, not eating) and other mundane tasks.
I thought about celebrating, but how do you celebrate such a thing? Every morning when I see her little face; every night when she yells "baba!!!" as he walks in the door; or when I pick her up from school and she smiles a big grin and says "mama"; every time she makes me laugh; every time she jumps up and down with excitement; every time she walks in the door and says "hi dog" as Tess runs up to be pet......
every thing.....
every day.......
every word......
we celebrate
2 comments:
Oh good heavens, I got a little teary at the end of that. I tend to forget how much there is to celebrate in the small details of life ("Hi dog"), especially in the rush of everythingallatonce that is Tokyo. And your mother is absolutely beautiful, by the way. Take care, Malinda
Oh, that's great.
You are such a good writer. Ever considered/have you written creatively?
-Gill
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