T Minus 5 Days

It's hard to believe that we are leaving for China on Monday! Although we've had a lot of time to get ready, it still feels like a rush to get everything done before we leave. One of the final items on the "to do" list was to get a car seat installed in R's car. So this morning before work, I showed up at the DC DMV inspection station where they help install car seats. It was a pretty simple process and it felt good to have it done. It was a strange feeling driving around with a car seat in the car -- it was like "what the heck is that thing doing in here?" Even after everything we have done, it still doesn't feel real. I think it will feel real once we touch down in China.

Right now, I'm on the new laptop and I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen's Greatest Hits -- a CD that I found while cleaning up last week. It's such a great album and it reminds me a lot of my first year at Berkeley (not sure why I was going through such a big Bruce phase then). Anyway, I love the album and R is not particularly fond of it. But she's fast asleep on the bed while I'm typing this so I'm free to tinker on the computer and listen to my favorite Bruce tunes.

I was thinking of another sports metaphor today. It had to do with Olympic acrobatic ski jumping of all things -- you know - the sport where they go down the steep ramp on skis and then do all kinds of flips and twists. It would also apply to Olympic diving. My question/thought was this: you can practice all you want. You can read all of the instruction manuals. You can get hooked up to a harness and experience what it feels like to do the twists and turns. But at some point, you're just going to have to go down that ramp or jump off that high dive and the only way to experience it is to do it. That's the way I feel right now with the adoption. We've read every book. We've gone to so many Adoption classes and conferences. We've been on listserves. We've been to waiting parent meetings. We know what to say and what not to say when asked about the adoption. We know what to pack and whether it's better to bring cash or travelers checks. We know that the baby seat has to be rear-facing since the baby will be less than 1-year old. We know all of this stuff. But at some point, the training is over. You just have to just do it. So, let's go off the high dive, shall we?

This Bruce is so good - I am going to drive R crazy in China if I'm listening to this all of the time!

More later.

J.