The Last Days of Two

Thanks to the glorious Mel Raines, N and I are spending the hours before departing for Ethiopia lounging by her community’s wading pool. N with her newly acquired traditional braids and her very hip polka dotted suit is practicing floating on her back and insists that she is ready to dive into the big girl pool.  She isn’t.  But, wow what a difference a couple of year’s makes.

The first time I saw N in the water was when I bathed her at 7 months and barely 12 pounds in the sink of the Addis Ababa Sheraton. A death defying experience with a new mom not exactly sure what to do with a slippery child and a very prominent spigot.

But time has passed, and now N doesn’t want help to bath or even to swim she can “do it by myself mom” — the mantra I hear daily.

And here we are, about to go back to her homeland to meet and bring home her little sister.

Its crazy and wonderful and scary all at once for me but also for the little girl whose whispery voice