JieJie and MeiMei had a great day, playing with visitors and family, riding the plasma car and scooter around the new, empty house, and eating mac and cheese well past bedtime after spurning the wonderful Chinese dishes Ping cooked for the holiday.
Last year, when the September moon was full, and MeiMei had been with us about a week and was just a year old, we celebrated moon festival in Guangzhou, carrying lanterns from 7-11 illuminated by birthday candles down to the Pear River, to watch the boats full of lanterns pass by.
This year, we did not go outside to gaze at the moon. We scrunched down by the bedroom window to see it. JieJie said we should each make a wish. An adoption wish, she said. Hmmm. OK.
Her wish was a secret. Mine was not. I told the girls that on Moon festival day, when families come together, that their father and I were thankful for the tummy ladies who had given birth to our daughters, and that I hoped as they looked at the moon they would know that we were taking good care of their babies. JieJie didn't say anything, but I'm sure what went in will percolate up to the surface in a few days. MeiMei just wanted to have her toes tickled. "Booove!" she said, to get me to move over. "Booove!"
Later, when the girls were asleep in the bright moonlight, I said to their father, "On nights like this, I really wish we had another.''
He said, "You read my mind."
To be continued.
