Today was a big day for us. I went to a small town in the south to pick up our child’s dossier. Until now, we only knew the gender and birth date of the child.
The sky was gray and the temperature was unusually cold for late June. When I got off the regional train, the cold wind was blowing and it started raining. I walked very fast to the agency’s office. I did not even have time to take a deep breath before “the dossier” was put in front of me. I started reading the official documents which described the child’s information in English. I could not wait to turn the page to the child’s photo, but I read every single word carefully and let the meaning sit deep in my heart. Then I finally turned the page to the photos. She was so beautiful my eyes started filling with tears. I was left alone for a while so I can look at the photos by myself. This beautiful baby girl is the one we have been waiting for.
Before I left the agency, I was informed about the official procedures and what we need to prepare before our departure – insurance, travel documents, translations.
Since there is only one train every hour and I just missed one by a few minutes, I went to the only cafe near the train station. When I ordered cappuccino over the counter, I remembered I was in the French-speaking region of Switzerland. So I ordered “café” in French and took a seat at the corner table. The cafe was almost empty. There was a skinny man sitting at the bar counter, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. There were two old ladies at a window seat chatting endlessly. Nobody paid extra attention to me, so I was relieved. While sipping coffee, I took a picture of the child from the dossier and emailed to Peter. When I looked up from the cell phone screen after a while, I was the only person in the cafe. 10 minutes before the train was supposed to arrive, I left the cafe but the waitress behind the counter was still gone in the kitchen.
On the express train back to Zürich, I watched the scenery go by and thought about many things that are going to happen from now. I promised to myself that, no matter what happens, I’ll always be there for her. I want to make her the happiest child ever as she’s already made us the happiest parents ever by entering our life. I am very thankful that the destiny chose us to be her parents.
