Blue Boys Pajamas and Mismatched Socks
Lana came to us, on the morning of January 8, 2007, in a pair of blue boys pajamas and mismatched socks (one red with black stripes, one red with blue stripes.) I don't think I have posted a picture of Lana in that outfit, but, another child can be seen wearing the same set of pajamas in the photo here:
They are either the same jammies, or the orphanage may have had several sets of those blue jammies (the child is the last child on the right side of the picture, who, incidentally, is being adopted by another Holt family (Hi Michelle!) who should be leaving soon to come and pick her up.)
At any rate, Lana was wearing those blue pajamas and the mismatched socks, and a pair of pink plastic clogs that were two sizes to small and had seen much better days.
My initial gut-instinct was to pitch all of these items in the trash. However, I overruled my gut, assuming that, one day, those clothes might be extremely important to Lan. (It occurred to me that one day they might be important to me, as well.) At one point the orphanage director asked, as we were leaving with a crying, hysterical Lana, that we bring those clothes back to the care center after we had changed Lana into other clothes at the hotel. The orphange director had done a few other things that made me really not happy with her, and considering that David and I had just delivered 30 brand new outfits in varying sizes to her, I did not return the clothes to the orphanage. (For one thing, I certainly wasn't going to return there with Lan.)
These clothes are the only thing Lan has left of her old life, with the exception of some photographs given to us by her foster family. And these clothes are actually poor examples of her old life - she didn't live at the orphanage until 2 days before we arrived in DaNang - she lived with her foster family, she had other clothes, a backpack with school things in it, some toys, some items David and I had sent to her. But, none of these things came with her. Only the blue pajamas, the mismatched socks, and the tiny clogs.
So, it was somewhat of a concern to me when I found that one of the socks had gone missing. I had looked for it a few times since we arrived in Hanoi, but, to no avail. I assumed it had been lost in our transition from DaNang to HaNoi. gone forever.
But, this morning, I found the wayward sock in my carry-on bag, as we were packing to get ready to leave Vietnam. I was relieved to have it. Lana showed no interest in wearing the mismatched socks, but, I am just glad we are able to take them home - the only tangible pieces of her prior life that will leave Vietnam with her.
We will get on a plane in about 12 hours. We will be home Monday about 2:30 PM. I think in a bit we will take a taxi into town for one final look at Hanoi. We had intended to see Hoa Lo prison and Lenin park yesterday and did not have the chance (it rained a lot.) We have some time to kill, so, I think we'll head out to do that.
Bye for now,
Gretchen
posted by Gretchen W @ 8:17 PM
5 Comments:
I think it's wonderful that you will have that outfit for Lana. We kept Ava's itty bitty outfit, too. It's fun to look at and remember the first time we ever saw her. :)
You have me crying here. It's especially difficult for me knowing that Bronte is still there....and wearing those same pajamas. Those articles of clothing will someday be evidence of how far Lana has come in here life. Thank goodness she's out of there! I had really wanted my son Max to travel with us for this very reason. I think it's hard to really comprehend how fortunate we are.
It is wonderful you have the outfit. We have a single shirt that they accidentally left on Cammie when they quickly changed her into my outfit. We have it with their G&R outfits. It is a ratty nasty little t-shirt. It is soo itchy and rough. And my girl wore it all day and night. It pains me to see it. But I will never throw it away. Beside a few pictures we have nothing from her/their former 5 months.
We wanted to do the taxi ride through hanoi. I really did but we didn't get to and I regret it. I hope you got to do it and I hope it was a safe trip home.
What a good idea to keep those clothes. Those clothes have a lot of meaning to both you and Dave along with Lan. We are so excited that you will be coming home and we can't wait to hear from you. Travel Safe and see you soon!
Jami
My darn internet was down and I missed the chance to wish you a Bon Voyage... you're practically home by now! Anyway, I'm so happy you are coming home. :-)
Zeeb came to us with a few outfits - at first he insisted on wearing them all the time and I had really mixed feelings... I wanted to "claim" him with the clothes I brought. But like you I saved them all, because I know they may be special to him one day.
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