Home. What a feeling to watch our plane descend down to Newark. Our flight to Newark was long, but went fine. Anjali slept for the first 10 hours or so and then we managed to find things to keep her busy after that. Once off the plane, I felt so happy and relieved. We were taken to a special part of immigration to give them the sealed envelope that we received from the U.S. embassy and then it was on to get our bags. Unfortunately, when we headed out from baggage claim we learned that our flight to Raleigh had been cancelled. Ugh...Six more hours of waiting to get home. Although we were all tired, Anjali didn't seem to notice that we were in a new country. In her mind, it was probably just another new adventure for a visit.
My parents came to pick us up and I can't tell you how completely thrilled we were to see them. My parents helped us so much while we were in Patna. We really couldn't have done it without them. They came to Raleigh in July and watched our dogs and took care of our home for us. The plan was originally for them to come to India and for Adam to go back to Raleigh after getting us settled in Patna, but Adam was able to stay for the entire duration and work remotely which was truly what was best for Anjali.
As we headed back to our house, we began to get a sense of all the wonderful, thoughtful things my parents did for us. First, of course, was a car seat for Anjali. They decorated the house up for our welcome home with flowers, balloons and signs. They had a hearty American meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, and green beans waiting for us when we got home. My father created a drainage area in our backyard and added some grass and many other little home projects. Our dogs were happy and well fed and had the shiny coats that they always get whenever my mother is around to groom them. The list of thoughtful, loving things they did for us goes on and on...I will never be able to thank them enough. There were gifts waiting from other family members as well. Books from my brother and family, a beautiful Mexican table and chairs and teapot set from Nana, Adam's mom, a dress and subscription gifts from Papi and Pixie, Adam's father and stepmother, and a couple of boxes of clothes from Aunty Tata and Gemma and Giselle, Adam's sister and daughters. It sure is wonderful to have such a loving supportive family to come home to!
For the first couple of days, we really relied on my parents as the exhaustion and jet lag kicked in. There was a lot to do around the house as we had not had the chance to childproof the house or get Anjali's room ready. We got a few necessities and my parents brought home toys and some clothes for Anjali once they got to know her a bit.
The first week back was a bit of a fog. Anjali took to my parents right away. Every morning when she woke up, the first thing she wanted to do was to go down and see them. My mother was able to speak Hindi to her and I credit her with successfully potty training Anjali while she was here. We got a little toilet for her and then my mom got a second one for her for downstairs. She also had a talk with her in Hindi about how it wasn't nice for her to go in her diapers and make her mom clean up after her. It seemed to work!
Halloween was a week from when we got home, so we all decided to be zoo animals for Halloween though we weren't sure what we would do for Halloween. I was a panther, Adam was a bird, my father was a gorilla and my mother was a leopard. And Anjali was the cutest zebra ever. Adam made her a really sweet zebra dress and then she put on zebra ears and striped stalkings. We ended up just trick or treating around the neighborhood which worked out well. There were a lot more kids than there had ever been before and Anjali thought it was amazing that you could go from door to door to get candy. It was the perfect American holiday to start her out with!
Anjali was a little timid around Papi and Leela at first. They were very gentle with her and she quickly got comfortable with them. She especially likes to give them kisses and tell them what to do.
We shared lots of nice meals together and took Anjali for walks at Lion's park where there is a nice playground in a wooded area. The time with my parents went by fast as we began to recover and get used to our new life as a family in Raleigh. Family and home, home and family...I think I have truly learned to appreciate both more than ever through this journey.
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