Thursday, October 15, 2009

Remembering

I'm sitting here on my lunch break and suddenly remembering the first day we saw Lily. What a flood of emotions it was! The trip short drive from the airport to the hospital seemed excruciatingly long. Then, we wanted to stop by and pick up flowers for Lily's birth mother. That was an experience in it's self. We wanted them to be just right. Not too difficult for her to carry home, but still beautiful.

I've written before about the amazing first few moments of meeting our daughter, her birth mom and Christina. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned the phone calls home. None of our family knew we had a potential adoption situation. They had no clue we were in California. After we met Lily's birth family and things felt so "right" and we knew it was for real and forever, we called our parents.

Before the calls, we had quickly snapped some photos of our new little family and Corey ran across the street from the hospital to find wifi and upload them into an email. He titled the email "Best catch yet". You see, in the days immediately preceding Lily's arrival, Corey had been fishing daily and sending photos of the lunkers to both of our families. Seeing fish photos was nothing new to them. So we figured an email with a title like that would not give anything away. The email simply had the photos, Lily's full name, height and weight. Nothing more.

When we called each of our family members, we immediately fired off the email. Luckily, they were home. When Corey called his mom and asked her to check her email, it took her awhile to open the right one. After she did, she just started to cry. We couldn't really hear anything through all the crying. When we called my parents and asked them to check their email, they kept asking why. I said because Corey had a really good catch and I wanted them to check it out. My dad kept insisting that he had seen the photos already (he was thinking of the fish photos) and so he wouldn't go with my mom to the computer to look. I kept insisting that they probably hadn't seen this one and reluctantly my dad joined my mom to check their email. When it finally popped up, my mom casually said "I don't get it. Who's baby is that?". I said "Mom, she's our baby.". She then half screamed, half cried at the top of her lungs "WHAT?????.....WHAT?????.....WHAT????? It took her a long while to calm down enough to talk rationally. Let me tell you, there were lots of happy tears that day. I called my brother and guess what he did? He half screamed, half cried at the top of his lungs "WHAT?!!!!!....WHAT?!!!!!.....WHAT?!!!!". No doubt, he is my mother's son.

Later that day, I called my friends. I distinctly remember calling Lexi and Laura. Lexi asked "What's up". I said "Well, for one, I'm a mom...". She cried and cried and said a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand, garbled through all the tears. We cried and cried and celebrated from opposite sides of the country. When I called Laura, she cut me off and said "Hey, can I call you back?" I said sure and we hung up. She called back a few minutes later and I told her the news. She was driving and had to pull over because she was crying so hard that she couldn't see the road. Her daughter was in the back seat and she started crying because her mom was screaming and crying. Laura had to keep telling her "They are happy tears, sweetie!!!".

What fun memories these are. I can't imagine it happening any other way :)

13 comments:

Lisa T. said...

How fun to experience it with you all over again.

Felt so honored to take the first picture of you and Corey as a mom and dad... well nervous hopefuls anyway.
Like our day it felt divine. Hands were in motion getting you to baby girl.
We will never forget our final home study. Not because it as memorable in itself, but because we got the second best call eva!

Brook said...

Yep Lisa, the call to you was the first one I made after calling Corey to say "Wake up!!! We are going to California!!!". I have to link the photo you are talking about, just for fun :) http://thethompsonbaby.blogspot.com/2009/04/introducing-riemans.html I love that photo with us and the "Thumbs up". We were so ready to go get our girl. Look at little Henry in my arms! He was teeny!

Laura said...

Amazing to think about.... I was thinking, while reading what you wrote, and sometimes memories, especially exciting ones...they feel surreal and dream like. It's so very real. It doesn't feel like a dream to me. I cannot believe that in eleven days, she'll be 6 MONTHS!

Time flies, and what it brought you, precious memories.

That phone call, your first time seeing her, holding her, it's beautiful. Sometimes, I feel sad that I'm so far away. She's such a special little girl. Truly.

Glad to know I wasn't the only one screaming and crying.... Maybe the only one that traumatized a toddler..but just the same........glad to be a part of it all.....

Jennifer said...

It was crazy! Crazy awesome! I remember we were digging in the dirt planting our garden, Jeremy and Corey had been out all night fishing the night before, and Corey called asking for newborn clothes, because you were hopping on the plane in like 12 hours. We ran out of the garden and threw everything we could find in some bags and hit the road to meet you at work. What a whirlwind. I have never wanted something so much for another person in my whole life. So glad she found you!

Anonymous said...

That was probably the most awesome phone call I had ever received!!! I was about 8 months pregnant at the time and remember jumping up and down so much that I almost peed my pants, JK!!!! I was so elated for you guys. I got chills all over again just reading the blog. You are all so lucky to have eachother.

Alexis Heimansohn said...

Hey, that last comment was mine :)
(anonymous)

Lisa T. said...

ah, Laura said it, this whole adoption thing. In many ways it is so much about wanting something so much for someone else. I remember when you guys came over after Henry was born and you made him that little fire hat. It was so sweet but I knew your heart was breaking so badly. I had to run out to your car.
I knew it had nothing to do with your happiness for us...but the thing was Brook, my heart was breaking so badly for you too. Now them suckers are all taped up and healing AND damn does it feel good!

Anonymous said...

I think of that day often, and I have never been that happy in my life. You guys are the best and you have made alot of lives so very happy. You really deserve every second of this. Enjoy. I love all three of you.
Mom Rieman

elder2 said...

just reading that made me cry all over again. Mom Pagac

Anonymous said...

I really need to quit reading this stuff at work! People really look at you strange when you are looking at your computer and crying. LOL I can so feel the love and emotion in your writing! Lily is so, so lucky to have you both as parents and you two are so lucky to have Lily. A match truly made in heaven!!! Blessings on all of you!

Cindy in SB

Laura said...

(oh and can I say for the record), THAT was THEEE only time I EVER said, "can I call you back?" Of course, the TIME your baby finds you, what do I do? "can I call you back?") Stupid stupid stupid! I think I had begun sleeping with my phone, hoping every day to get "the call"...different from your, "THE CALL"...but still pretty stinking important/exciting call....geez louise.

You know, it just occurred to my, why didn't you name Lily, Louise? GEEZ! :) Love ya <3

Heather said...

Heading to bed and decide that I haven't read your blog in a while...now you are sending me to bed in tears!! Tears of joy and happniness that I have for you yet again :) I love this story as will your beautiful daughter some day!

Kendra said...

This made me feel weepy and happy. I love how you passed the news along!