Chip and beans, the night of beauty in innocence and the gas chamber of jet lag.

The night of our first day in albuquerque was so emotionally charged, so long, and so weird.  We had a great day, arrival in albuquerque around noon. Greeted by friends and family, enjoyed in a catered mexican lunch, and then a little time to try our hand at being a family of five for the first time. The day went surprisingly well, the girls were just digesting the enormity of the change in motion. No major smack downs,  extreme toy overload for Neha, and massive toy and possession conflict with Charlotte, and even a bit of our dearest giving and ultimate sharing sister Lucy.  Truth be know, everyone was just the tiniest bit intruded upon, and extremely exhausted.   These two emotions compounded each other over then next few days.  I would be lying if i didn't admit moments of fear, and tiny flashes of chaos.  

A little tv time perhaps is just what the doctor ordered.  Mid day distraction, and calm down period.  Not so much...... Neha fell asleep around 3:30 pm, mike and Lucy were soon to follow around 4.  Charlotte and I just didn't quite know how to proceed.  Charlotte wanted to wake Neha.  Seemed like a good idea until we had tried to stand her up three times with no avail.  We had to essentially dress and stand a dead body, charlotte says, "oh mom, just what are we going to do with Neha?".  We then proceeded to work on getting mike and Lucy ready for bed. Lucy was nothing short of a 60 pound unconfined pile of pudding. She actually slithered off the potty while I wasnt looking.  Charlotte and I single handedly handeled 3 jet lagged bodies, changed them, pottied them, and put them to bed.  I personally had a hint of Trainspotting the movie in my head.  Things were just weird. Out of this world to say the least.  

This is when Charlotte (chip, Charlie, chippy and or butters and only sometimes chip douglas), and I decided to sit down to a simple dinner of chips, beans, and of course cheese would do us right.   We had missed each other so much the last few weeks. The silence in the house, the happiness in mother and daughter being rejoined.  The whew of our impending distance finally being resolved.  It was a special time I don't want to forget. Nor do I want to forget Lucy and charlotte holding a 10 minute embrace in the airport. Both of them crying and looking at each other in disbelief.  Complete disbelief that they had missed each other so darn much. It was the beauty of being a sister that shined that day. The exact thing that made us want them to have one more sister. We new they had every capacity to share that love.  

As time goes on we are assured they have the capacity just sometimes not quite the total desire to "share" that love right now.  In this exact moment.  But it will come.