I was looking forward to this. I was hoping CJ and Fran would come or at least Howard and his wife. I knew Patrice would be there and I was looking forward to seeing her and Linda. They were always the best when we were going through the adoption process.
The Day was hot, in a spring that had been a little cool and wet. The drive up, made by Teri, Thank You was not bad. Teri and I fussed over what to bring and she finally settled on a dip. At these gatherings I always feel like white trash. No one has ever treated me that way. They have always been very sweet and kind, but these last few years have been a little rough and we have not recovered like we would of liked to and the people who adopt like we did are usually of higher incomes, even when we were making good money.
We get there a few minutes after the time it was to start. Few people are there. I strike up a conversation with a women I don't know telling her stories about our trip to Russia and how CJ and Fran were with us and how he was learning Russian and it made ordering food very easy. After a while we wander away from each other.The Other problem with the Bridge of Hope gatherings and I loosely take a quote from The Big Chill. We all knew each other for a short time a while ago. I wanted to sit down and talk to Patrice and Linda, because I do very much like them, but I had nothing to say beyond how are the adoptions from China going and did You ever do the Birobidzhan trip?
We all had some burgers and hot dogs and some Ice Tea. Around three O-Clock, We felt it was time to leave. I took a few pictures of the girls on a big rock and then some pictures of all the kids from Russia and we left.
I will go to the next one I hear about and the one after that. This will always be an important part of my life.
