On Saturday we had our third annual reunion of the Laibin sisters, 8 lovely girls who are now 4 years old. Everyone had a terrific time sloshing down water slides, playing dress-up, splashing in the pool, dancing, doing crafts, eating too much and exchanging photos. It's such a joy to watch the girls grow. So many could not walk when we first met them in China three years ago in May. In some cases their hair was shaved on the sides. I didn't understand why until I saw a group photo from the orphanage showing a cluster of kids, heads shaved at the sides, apparently to make it easier to insert the IV lines (of antibiotics?) secured to their heads with clean rags tied like headbands. When we became a family, JieJie's hair was short and stood straight up. We called her Spike. She was gorgeous.
Now the China sisters can pirouette, ice skate, write their names and have some pretty interesting conversations. They don't seem to know yet why we travel across the country to bring them together each year, but perhaps someday they will find some comfort in knowing the girls who were their orphanage cribmates from their first days, before we came into their lives.
Tomorrow we gather again for brunch with the families before heading out for the last leg of our trip. On Monday we will receive the detailed information on MeiMei. We took a printout of her photos with us to the reunion, and JieJie ran through our hosts' home waving the paper and yelling, "Guys, guys, look at my sister!" She also performed at least 100 somersaults.
That night, lying in bed, JieJie made a confession. "I think about hugging Solomon." Solomon is the handsome heartbreaker of her nursery school, and lately we have run into him at the park several times. While JieJie can outrun a lot of girls, Solly runs rings around her, and she willingly follows him, chugging around the track.
"Have you ever huggged him?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Have you ever kissed him?"
"No. I'm too afraid."
The next morning when she opened her eyes, she stretched and said, "I'm still thinking about hugging Solomon."
I suppose a lot of the other girls are too. Solomon and JieJie will be headed to different schools for Pre-K in just a few weeks.
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