Saying Goodbye

Sunday was our last day in Addis as we arranged for an earlier flight home. We woke up, spent our last morning at Kaldi's Coffee House and then met Samuel's family at 11:00 a.m. We walked in the room to find his mother and his three half-brothers. My heart sank as I feared this would be the moment Samuel would decide he didn't want to have anything to do with us.

His mother immediately took him in her arms and showered him in affection. I felt awkward watching - as if I was stealing a mother's private moment, her last moment with her son.

We spent the hour asking questions about his childhood, his family and about how she wanted to be remembered. The brothers shared stories and pictures with us as we began to put the pieces of his childhood puzzle together. Samuel's neighbors had been collecting money, 80 birr a month, in order to send him to private school. It was there that he learned his alphabet, numbers and phonics. As more and more information was shared I wondered how this session was going to come to a close.

At that time, the case worker walked in Samuel and they all said their last goodbyes. I was beside myself watching this scene and felt a sense of relief when he came back to us to walk out to the car. As we drove out of sight, Samuel turned around to his brothers who were waving goodbye to him and I believe that was the moment I completely lost it. Samuel was quiet for some time after our leaving.

He was quiet until our driver pulled up to the barber shop - requested by Samuel, not by us. The shop was literally the size of a walk-in-closet and there were six chairs packed inside. We waited our turn and Samuel hopped up into the chair requesting his rat tail to be cut. Ten minutes later, Samuel was a new man and the entire experience cost us a grand 80 cents. What a relief I felt as I was wondering how I was going to secretly cut the tail off in the middle of the night, convincing him is fell off on its own...

After lunch and one last visit to the older Gladney center, we packed our bags and headed for the airport. Samuel was beaming with excitement - the thought of airplanes and America. We said goodbye to a culture and to people who helped produce an amazing boy named Samuel. And, while the process was quite physically and mentally challenging, we feel blessed each day knowing that our journey as a family has merely begun. We are richer for having experienced his heritage and look forward to sharing his history with him. From Addis to Texas we brought back the best souvenir and look forward to raising a child who will become a voice and an advocate for adoption, Ethiopia, and living simply. And so while one story ends, another unfolds and what a great story it will be!