We're Home!

We made it home with Bridget, safe and sound, this morning to much fanfair! Thank you so much to the great friends and family who met us at the airport and made Bridget feel so welcomed. You could tell she was pleasantly surprised to get such a greeting as we observed the biggest smiles that we have seen so far. She really seems to love her new home too. She seems almost surprised that what we told her about it was really true. She is now taking a nap in her bed. That feels really good.
The trip home was a great adventure. It started with our friend Kate and her son Nathan (who are from Hong Kong) meeting us at the hotel in Guangzhou and riding/guiding us through the train station and along on our trip to Hong Kong. What an amazing city. We got to spend a few hours with Kate and her family before we flew out of Hong Kong on our 13 hour journey back to Los Angeles. By the time we made through immigration in LA we were late to our connection flight to Chicago.
As I get the chance to reflect back on this it is truly amazing that we caught that flight. We literally ran through that airport starting with a sprint accompanied by the Cathay Pacific representative in her red suit and high heels high-tailing it through the international airport to the American Airlines check-in process (Cathay Pacific is a great service airline by the way - highly recommend). Along the way we encountered doubters who told us there was no way to catch the flight and a long delay clearly in our near and apparently distant future. But we bonded as a family (including Cathay Pacific rep) with no communications or language problems -- all on the same page -- as we ran to our departure gate. Nothing would stop our family. I (as Daddy) was burdened down with all of our carry-ons, movie cameras, and passports tenuously dangling, was out front in the final stretch bound and determined to make it to the gate to hold the plane (of course it was the gate at the furthest end of the long concourse). It was crowded as I sprinted through. I looked back at one point and I could see Lorna and Bridget still running, but well behind. I couldn't spot Marlee but she is so small I was confident that she was a few sleepy strides behind her momma. Needless to say I was shocked when I looked down to my right to see her beaming smile as she was sprinting right along side me in true "Chariots of Fire" fashion. Apparently, she had seen me take off with such great enthusiasm that she couldn't resist the "game" and was up for the challenge. I couldn't believe how fast she was running! She looks up at me and says "Are we going to make our flight Daddy?". I had to laugh though I remained focused. "Come on!" I exhorted.
We made it. They had some other delay at the last minute anyway so they let us on. I told Marlee "you are a real trooper". She went on to tell her heroic story to each person she encountered there-after. "Daddy says I'm a real trooper and we didn't miss our flight".
The rest of the journey went very smoothly including our wonderful greeting party here at home.
Well, I am currently uploading the much anticipated Bridget Gotcha Video. It will be arriving in a few minutes.