Touchdown....

Bek and Jacob touched down on Virginia soil tonight after a week long visit with his PopPop. We arrived at the airport early, eager to see them, especially Ma'Maw.

They were very happy to be home again. The bird they flew in on had a tail like this one. When I was a kid my aunt used to tell me that if you could throw salt on a bird's tail you could catch him. I wonder what size salt shaker you would have to have to throw salt on this bird's tail.

Patsy and Herman perused a map of the airport, checking out all the restaurants and shops. It didn't do us any good. Everything was closed except Friday's. We ordered tea and water and waited. The waiter was not happy with us about that, and refused to take our money when we left. Oh, well!

Then we received a phone call from Bek telling us that the plane had landed and they would disembark in ten minutes. We walked down to wait where they would soon arrive, hardly able to stand the anticipation. We were dying to see them, each of us keeping our eyes on the exit, scanning each and every face, waiting to see the two precious faces that belonged to us......and finally.....there they were. The only two faces in a sea of faces that made our hearts go pitter patter. That first moment of eye contact after a seperation from those you love is simply delicious, even a short separation.

As they came closer, Jacob stretched out his arms and cried, Ma'Maw, Ma'Maw. Bek unbuckled his belt and freed him from the stroller. He literally flew into his Ma'Maw's arms and began to sob; he was so overwhelmed. She held him tightly and rubbed his back telling him of her deep and abiding love. When he finished loving on her, he reached for Herman and contentment slowly returned as we went down to baggage claim. As soon as Bek reclaimed her bag, right then and there she unzipped it and removed a long stuffed, fluffy, purple rattle snake named Orange. She said that Jacob had been asking for Orange for the past hour on the plane.

Herman carried him through the airport with Orange wrapped around his neck, and he was finally content and oh, so happy to be home and in the arms of those he loved. We got him situated in his car seat and began the drive home. For the first 45 minutes he regaled us with stories of his adventures in Iowa until he passed out from emotional and physical exhaustion. His stories were peppered with tall tales of creatures with exotic names like, Choco, Bingo, Poky, Candy and ShagNasty. The tales must wait for another day, but I can hardly stand the anticipation.

Life with Jacob continues. I can not offer any assurances about where it will lead, but I can promise that it will never be dull. Life was in black and white while he was away, but we have just been thrown back into living technicolor.

Oh, my God, we love that boy.


Welcome Home Bek and Jacob!