I am shocked and I don't know how it happened. No wait I know how it happened, I just don't know why and if they know what they just did.
We dropped Leonid and Anya off at the Hampton roads Motel last night where Leonid was to give us his answer about if he and his sister were going to stay with us and be adopted. We were late to the hotel. the heat wave ended with some heavy rain storms and flooded a couple of lanes on the Cross Island Expressway. We found a place to eat dinner, a place called Angelina's, expensive and my dinner was very salty.
When we got to the Hotel the kids were taken upstairs where Patrice and Linda talked to them. Everyone thought this was best. They came back a little while later and we accompanied Patrice and Lynda to Patrice's room.They told us the kids had decided to go back to Russia and not be adopted. Teri said she had expected it, I was floored. I didn't think they would ever pass up the opportunity to have a family, even an imperfect one. It had to be better then where they were. We talked about options and laughed over a few jokes that were made (Teri, now you can get your siding for the house, trust me it was funny you just had to be there and need something to feel a little happy about.)
We went out to the lobby. Patrice and Lynda went to get the kids so we could say good bye. Anya came first and we hugged her tightly. I watched Anya, she seemed unmoved when Teri hugged her.I don't know if she disconnected to feel less pain or if this was the way your learn to survive in an orphanage, I don't know. I hope she knows we care about the both of them and hope their life turns out better then I see it. Leonid was a little difficult to find and when he came to the lobby his eyes seemed a little glassy and I thought he was a little upset. We hugged said good bye to him, stood around for a few minutes, then left.
It's amazing that it ended just like that. There was nothing to suggest in our parting that we were planning to spend the rest of our lives with these two.
We went down the road to turn around when Teri says lets stop at Baskin Robins and get ice cream. Of course it took me back to the last time I had ice cream from Baskin Robin's it was in Birobidjhan and I made a joke how do you say Baskin Robin is Russian, Yea it was funny when I told it back then too. The moments gone so now I'm not going to tell you the answer. Anyway we spent sometime eating ice cream and there was really no talking about anything important.
We got home late and went right to bed.
Today, I did a count down until they left at three PM. Then I counted the hours they had been in the air and now they are in Moscow at a hotel and it is eight hours in advance of our time and a few hearty souls might be getting up for breakfast. ( it's 11:37 PM, Thursday, here and 8:37 AM Friday morning in Moscow Russia)
I hope they live a long and happy life and find what they are looking for and did not find here. I will think about them often for a long while and then occasionally for the rest of my life, but I will always wish them the best.
