Recuperation
I was a little bummed when my dream about meeting Christian Bale didn’t pan out in reality. We were at my cousin’s cousin’s concert and he came right over, sat on the floor next to my chair, and introduced himself, congratulating me on Yali’s adoption.
Reality hit a little differently when my 6:15 alarm went off and Puck popped out of bed announcing, “I sweat over the whole bed!”
On the other side of town, two of my boys had survived the first night post-op together.
“He was the belle of the ball,” Oxbear told me later. “Well the male version of that, whatever that is.”
Oxbear lifted an excited Yali out of his carseat at about 9:30 that morning and handed him to me on our driveway. Home sweet home for the little niño. Now that he was unattached to all the hospital apparatus, he was a little more free to roam, provided he remained strapped in his arm cuffs at all times.
I wasn’t expecting it, but after his first nap, I was already hearing belly laughs again. Sure, he wasn’t too thrilled about the “no comida”/“no food” for 48 hours following surgery. Fortunately there was a smorgasbord of apple juice and Pedialyte made available to him, upon demand.
It was already three o’clock and I was back up at school again while the two boys napped back home. Puck marched out of the gym, orange coat hanging over his Minecraft backpack, resembling a large orange turtle.
The afternoon was pretty mild, so I let him invite Snicky to play on the playground for twenty minutes before heading home. Of course these playground visits more often than not end up hacking into boxes from the recycling bin in the gym – Puck never fails to grab one on the way out – with any available hacking object.
“PUCK! DOES YOUR MOM HAVE ANY SHARP OBJECTS?!”
I did not. My car keys did just as well though.
Back home, Puck eagerly greeted his brother, who was so happy to see him, he almost threw himself off the couch from Oxbear’s lap. After the reunion, Puck strapped on his bike helmet to take in some more fresh air. And I hit the store for easy food, because I didn’t feel like making the kitchen a mess with fish and veg for dinner. I think Puck thanked me for skipping the fish; he would never survive in a sea town. We were all – surprisingly – a little tired.
It was one year ago today I got that email from Colombia, pleading for someone to adopt little Yali. One year ago today I saw his photo for the first time. And now here he is.