past, present, future

Precious turned five yesterday.  I took a few photos with the camera and more with my phone….but the phone ones are harder to post.  She got fun gifts, mostly barbies and girl lego stuff….and money….and some clothes which she loves.  We took 5 friends plus Isaac and Jeremiah to Chuckie Cheese and then back home to swim for an hour.  Roger’s parents came and my mom and Rick came and we ordered pizza and Precious played and played.  At the end of the night, she needed to pretend she was a newborn baby for awhile…..and it struck me that on her birthdays, her body might just realize what went wrong the day she was born and she was separated from her birth mom.  We simulated that newborn snuggle time awhile until she felt ready to sleep.  My heart rejoiced and it broke all at once.  Sometimes, that is exactly what adoption feels like.Today we hosted about 30 kids and a hand-ful of moms for an end of summer pool party.  Everyone brought treats and the kids were ruthless with their pleasure of water and sun and rowdy play…..we have the yard for it.  It yearns for it….it savors it….it delights in having dozens of kids running and jumping and splashing in the pool, the yard, the tramp……but I am an introvert.  People don’t fill me up.  Silence and quiet do.  I used up all my introvert minutes this week.  All of them.

Tomorrow I am going to work because visiting a few moms and babies, and charting in a coffee shop, and sitting on a panel of adoptive parents at an adoption training sounds delicious right now.  Fewer people.  Less noise.  Much, much less chaos.  Introverts need less, not more.  Interestingly, I have some of each in my family.  I can tell which ones thrive on social atmosphere, and which ones need it quiet and solitary……

Next week they all go back to school/daycare schedule and I will take a moment or two to bless the backyard and thank it for all it accomplished this summer…..and I will sip coffee and breathe deeply and enjoy an absence of movement and noise for a few pauses…..