Forever friends

I met my dear friend Michelle almost 5 years ago at the first meeting our travel group had together at our agency. We were all a bunch of kind of nervous parents getting ready to travel together to go on an amazing journey to China for our children. 11 families who had received referrals for 9 girls and 2 boys. SARS had shut down the China program for a while and we were the first group to get referrals once China opened up the program again, so we were all quite anxious to meet our children and bring them home. I got to know Michelle a bit better at O'Hare as we waited for our plane that would take us from Chicago to Shanghai. She was a first time mom, me a second time mom with some experience under my belt with a 17 yr. old son at home. We bonded instantly having many things in common including our 2 daughters...my little Grace and her little Julia sharing the same birthday and coming from the same SWI. We all experienced a range of emotions there in China... from elation and joy, to sadness and humility. It is hard to explain and quite complex and once you experience this journey you will understand what I mean. I think of the time of receiving our children in our arms as being in one shared birthing room together. Michelle and her husband Mark were first time parents and when their daughter Julia developed a fever and an ear infection, I showed them how to take her temperature, how to draw up oral antibiotics in a syringe and to give them to an upset, crying baby. After coming home Michelle and I bonded at Gymboree class with the girls, play dates and weekly lunches together. Grace and Julia became fast friends just as their mommas had. When Michelle went to China for a second time to adopt their daughter Emily, I supported her in anyway that I could. I consider Michelle my sister and a true gift in this miracle of adoption. I love her daughters as much as my own. I know that just like our daughters, we will be life long friends. Adoption is so much more than bringing a child into your home and hearts, it's as Steffie said in a comment to me about meeting with our travel group friends, "there is always something quite magical when you are with people that you went on your amazing journey with!" Steffie couldn't have expressed it better because I know she feels the same way about her travel group, or as I call them....my travel family. :)