We raced out to the airport this morning to catch Julei, Hugo and Leidy as they flew through on their way home to California. After a 5:15 a.m. departure from our apartment, we literally sat in traffic on the Deegan for 40 minutes because of an accident further south. We finally got off a mile from where we started and and had to begin again from in front of our building at 6:00 a.m. Chris then drove like a maniac and got us to JFK in 23 minutes! We entered terminal 4 where we have always met the flights from Bogota, found that an Avianca flight had landed, but no sign of the Delta flight we were looking for. I called Delta and found that it was actually at Terminal 3. We rushed back out to the car, and on our way to terminal 3, Julei called! They had landed, made it through immigration, and were waiting for their domestic flight which had been re-booked to 8:10 so we had a little time. After running up and down some different stairs and ramps in terminal 3, we found them, and it was all totally worth it! Hugo and Leidy couldn't believe their eyes -- they just stared. Fer and Wendy were so excited to see them and after the first shock, smiles and laughs all around. The four of them had about 30 minutes together and had a great time playing and talking together. The adults stood apart so the kids could have their time, but it seemed from little snippets like Wendy and Fer were telling about their life here -- "I'm learning script." "I go to gymnastics class." Of course most of the communication was in Spanish, but a little English here and there as well. And then we had to see them off! We'll skype again very soon and then we're planning a visit out there in February.
As we left to return to the car, Fer and I were walking together and she was so happy. She said, "That was so much fun . . . gracias a Dios!" And then, "Thank you so much that you are so nice that you make the plan with Julei so she adopts Hugo and Leidy." Long pause. "You are my real mom."
Pics of the big reunion:
2 comments:
I just got chills from reading the last line. What a great moment and a great experience all around.
:)
KIPPtia Shirincita
I love this post. It is a wonderful tale and I, too, got chills from the last line,
Eileen
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