That's right. Today marks 4 months of waiting. And waiting. And waiting. How many more posts like this will there be? I won't predict that. No sense trying.
We started our 4th month with a celebration of Brian. His birthday was on Thursday, and for a few months, I was busy planning a surprise for him. Wanting it to be fun, low key, relaxed, and social, the plan was to go to a minor league baseball game with an all you can eat buffet. It was a day full of surprises. Brian's nephews, his brother and sister-in-law came up from Virginia and met us at a local restaurant. Brian had no idea, and it was a really great surprise. That would have been enough, actually. He was pretty happy. But, then we went to a bakery to pick up a chocolate chip pound cake that he also didn't know about. From there, back to our house where Stacey, my parents, Brian's cousin from Pittsburgh, our friend Diana and her son Carlos from D.C., our friends Joan and Jim, and our friend Val were all waiting for us. Terri joined us later. Brian had no idea! It was awesome! I was a bit nervous... Brian's not one for a big surprise like that, feeling unprepared, having all of the attention focused on him, etc. But, he was happy and he handled the unpreparedness exceptionally well. The problem was that yesterday was a major storm... monsoon, actually... and the game was called off. It was so disappointing, and for me, a bit stressful. I hadn't come up with a plan B (yep, I'm an optimist!), and I hadn't gotten any food, snacks, drinks, etc. to have on hand just in case, because I couldn't have explained that to Brian. "Well, Bri, we don't drink soda, but I just thought I'd buy a few cases of it at the store for no particular reason whatsoever. I also just stopped and got some beer just in case we're inspired to drink some, which we never do." Right. So, once we got home and Brian got his shock of the day when he walked in and saw a room full of people waiting for him, I ran off to the store to get some snacks and sodas. We called Dominos for help with feeding the hungry crowd, and we spent the rest of the night hanging out, watching sports and "X-Men" on TV (well, the guys and the boys did), and talking. It was a lot of fun. Carl, Ana, and the boys along with my mom and dad spent the night, we enjoyed donuts and bagels for breakfast, and then after my parents left, the rest of us went to Valley Forge National Park to walk around. The boys played some Neanderthal baseball with a large stick they found in the park, and after that we went and got sandwiches and cheesesteaks for lunch. Jaime got an 18 inch cheesesteak... can you even imagine? I feel sick just thinking about it. Are you sensing a theme here? Eat until you're sick... that's how it felt, but it was fun. It was so nice spending time together. Made me realize again how many wonderful people we have in our lives... how people are so kind, caring, flexible, and supportive. We couldn't feel luckier to have each and every one of you.
Having everyone around this weeknd, and the planning that has taken the better part of two months, was also incredibly helpful in temporarily forgetting about the wait. Well, we never really forget about it, but it was helpful in putting those thoughts on the back burner rather than in the forefront of our minds. I did think, more than once, that it would have been a pretty incredible birthday present for Brian if the call had come yesterday amongst the chaos. We could have handled it... really!!
So, now the birthday celebration is over, but we're going to try to reschedule that game, and we'll do that while we continue waiting. We'll continue to do the little things that we do to prepare... collect more baby things, however small, read all we can, attend our seminars that Open Arms offers, go to the coffee talks and stay connected to the people in our cohort. Maybe next year's birthday celebration will include another face. A newer, sweeter, and lovely face.
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