This would our last full day in China; we'd leave for the States the next day. Oh, China. There was a desperation on this day. How to experience it all, one more time? How to memorize every detail so that I could give it back to Luna on some hazy unknown day in the future when she realized all that she'd lost? There was so much more to see and do, there, and we were out of time. And, so ready to go home. There was, also, the unbelievably long and hard airplane "adventure" that would begin early the next day. There was the need to wander that day, before being confined, the next one.
We headed back to Shamain Island to finish our souvenir shopping and then headed to the park down the street from our hotel. In the taxi, on the way, I decided that the next time that I did something INSANE in traffic, I would simply shrug my shoulders and say, "Eh, I learned that in China." American shame would no longer work on me, nope. I'd learned from the
best.
Just like Q-Boo had done on our last day in China on her adoption trip, when she'd decided that K-Man wasn't so bad, Luna decided that I was all right. I didn't think that she would ever vote for me as "favorite," but she'd willingly hold my hand, let me carry her, sit next to her, and she no longer fussed when Q-Boo held K-Man's hand without her. Luna gave me a random hug and then she called me "momma!" and hugged my legs on the sidewalk outside of a store. She also pinched my boob and laughed, so there's that. I pinched her back and we laughed at one another.
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A school on the island was outside, exercising.
The girls decided to run, also.
Luna's lack of stamina had stayed consistent the whole trip. She was often winded and didn't have much endurance. It would be something that would slowly resolve once she got home and got used to playing long and hard with her brothers and sister.
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For some reason this struck me as funny. There was another one: "Get your legs crossed every night." Normally, I tried to stay sensitive to the very real hardships of translating thoughts between such different languages, but this was funny.
We stopped and let the girls run around and suddenly Luna ran up to K-Man, "Bàba, péngyǒu!" (Daddy, my friend!) It was the little girl that Luna had made friends with the night before on the boat. We spent some time listening to her and Luna chatter with one another. Luna tried to introduce her to Q-Boo and, at one point, the little girl was fruitlessly telling Q-Boo all about herself in Mandarin.
We went back to the White Swan Hotel and upstairs to meet Catherine and to say goodbye. We took a photo on the Red Couch and Catherine explained, again, to Luna about how we'd be flying home on the airplane the next day. I don't know exactly what she said to her, but Luna's energy decidedly fell after their conversation. I wondered if, maybe, the reality of what was happening was beginning to dawn on Luna.
Then, back outside, again.
We finished up at Shamain Island, went back to the hotel, and walked down the street to a local park.
Exhausted, we drug ourselves back to the room and, even though we'd discussed having noodles for our last dinner in China, we ordered pizza because we were too tired to consider anything else.
John left and brought back our Hauge Adoption Certificate and Luna's Chinese Passport with Immigrant Visa, inside. Several times, Luna put on her very special backpack and we'd told her,"fēi jī míng tiān," or "We get on the airplane, tomorrow," and she'd take it off. Until she'd put it back on and we'd repeat.
The pizza arrived, John left, and we ate. Luna cuddled up to her dad on the couch, said, "Māmā," and pointed at the hotel door. Apparently, all good will that she'd felt toward me earlier that day had gone and she was being sure that I knew whom she loved best. Sorry, little miss, I sort of run this show, you won't be getting rid of me.
I put the girls in the bath and then the bed, and spent the rest of the evening packing up to leave early the next day.
