Home Sweet St. Louis Home
10:45PM Red eye leaves Bogota; Yali sleeps the whole way.
04:20AM Arrive in New York; visit with Border Patrol.
08:55AM Plane leaves JFK; Yali sleeps first two hours.
10:20AM Arrive in Minneapolis; Yali gets cranky.
03:00PM Flight leaves for STL: best city on Earth.
We could see Puck first as we walked down the long hallway, “out of his mind excited”, as Carrie-Bri texted me in Minneapolis. Then the family’s resident red-head, waiting with his camera, and everyone else, from Linnea-Irish to Theodore. They were all there in a big group, Grandma included. But Puck was standing out front because as Carrie had also told me, “Puck wants to be the first to greet Yali.” And he was – big shiny balloon in hand that read: “WELCOME HOME!” And that’s how two brothers met for the first time, over a shiny balloon, the universal object of celebration.
It didn’t take long for the grins to come. Then Mr. and Mrs. Erkmann walked up in time to join the crowd, a representation of our old church that had waited with us for so many years.
The drive home – all four of us together for the first time – Puck sat right next to Yali. They played games the whole way, Yali grinning and giggling. There was so much to do and say for two boys, one who had been waiting six years, the other, two.
The house looked incredible. Puck told us there was a big surprise waiting, and that “everyone pitched in!”. Landscaping, painted door, shutters, and posts, siding power-washed, that busted old lamppost removed that I called about eight years ago and the gas company said they wouldn’t take out … it looked ready to be put on the market. By the door hung an STL-pride plaque in dark red reading, “HOME SWEET STL HOME”.
Inside was an abundance of gifts, including Carrie’s sausage and kale soup (Yali gulped it down) and cheesy bread for dinner, brownies, gooey butter cake cookies, cases of Izzes (my favorite), Reeses, clothes for Yali (mostly appropriately Cardinal), treats for Yali from Grandma, even a box of blonde hair dye, now that I’m back from hiding my American identity.
Also, Crackers was fat. When Carrie asked Francis about that later, he said, “I fed her the cup they left. And maybe a little extra when she was a good cat. Which was every day.”
Meanwhile the heat index for tomorrow was set for 110. That’s what I’m talking about: STL family, STL Cardinals, STL weather. All the things I’ve missed, back together again.