No, seriously -- in some ways, this year roared past while in others it couldn't be done & over with fast enough for me. Still, in the waning hours of 2019, there are some milestones to look forward to with the coming year....
A new decade AND a double number year. Okay, I know this isn't even remotely adoption- or Pipsqueak-related, but I'm a sucker for these milestones. This will also be the only time in my life when the year is a double number, so I'm looking forward to being able to write the same two digits twice for a few months. (Anyone seeking to spoil the moment by pointing out that some measures of time have the new decade beginning in 2021 will be soundly and firmly ignored.)
The Pipsqueak's first graduation. I have to admit that the idea of a "graduation" at the end of 5th grade is a bit out of what I used to consider the normal progression of school, but I'm aware that I'm so "Old Guard" that I what I was guarding ain't there no more. When June comes around, Miri will be done with elementary school and come September (actually, August 31st) she will be traveling to a different building and starting middle school. My sister's long-long-ago statement, "...and I'd like you to help teach the baby to drive when she turns 16" is suddenly looming much, much larger. Yikes!
The Pipsqueak officially becomes a Tween. To be honest, this is one of the scarier milestones of the coming year. I spent several years commenting, "I fear my niece as a teenager" because of her innate, undying, unvarying, and unwavering hard-wired knowledge of The Rules Of How It All Should Work and her equally strong feeling that she can enforce said rules -- but she's also a really caring, empathic, concerned, and loving person at her core so I don't expect anything beyond the usual hormonal insanity that afflicts the species. Even now, I keep getting surprised at how "old" she's become, her ability to reach (juuuust) things on the top of the fridge, her ability to lift her ridiculously heavy school backback and a full bag of groceries at the same time, and her knowledge & awareness of what's in the news. (All that is tempered by the ongoing presence of Doggie and Kiki, the little-girl giggles, and the occasional need to cuddle with Mommy.)
And, finally, one of the most mind-blowing milestones I never really thought ahead to...
The Pipsqueak will be home for A FULL DECADE. As the saying goes, "The days are long but the years pass swiftly." It's gotten a little more difficult over the years, but I can still remember the emotions of those last several months of waiting... waiting... waiting for the adoption process to grind forward to the point where there was actually a child involved on the other side of the world. I'll be revisiting that last block of pre-Gotcha time (and the first few post-Gotcha months) here during 2020, but as a bit of a look ahead...
The photo folders on my laptop labeled "Snowmageddon 1" and "Snowmageddon 2" are dated December 19th & 20th, 2009. That snowfall was actually somewhat welcome because it gave us good reason to stop worrying about The Wait for a while, to deal with something that had "right NOW!" status, and that didn't require the filing or renewal of more paperwork. By the time winter of 2009 had rolled around, it would have been correct to say AJ had gotten a little brittle -- that we all had to some extent -- just trying to power through the apparently never-ending wait for the Chinese government to process her adoption application. We had no way to know that a scrawny little baby girl had already, months earlier, been abandoned at the Wushizen medical clinic and was now getting an end-of-year physical exam... or that seven months later, just as she and my sister were beginning to learn how to be a daughter and a mother, we would be given precious photos of her that coincided with our digging out from the first one-two punch of a series of winter storms that local folks still refer to as "Snowmageddon."
The photo above is from December 23, 2009. It is one of a short series showing Miri (apparently) shortly after her medical exam, nicely bundled up and awaiting her bottle. We would see it for the first time in July of 2010, but it is one of just five photos from that winter. (I have two from June and two from October as well, along with a nice series from the week before Gotcha Day, thanks to our amazingly caring & conscientious Chinese guide.)
So, as 2019 comes to a close and 2020 prepares to move in and decorate the place in its own style, I'll leave y'all with a little end-of-year dance that Miri and one of her friends choreographed for a video they made a few days ago. I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year to come, and a safe & happy New Year's Eve, and thank everyone for coming along on the journey so far!
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