"As if you have always known her"

I couldn't help thinking of these words when we walked down the steps of the orphanage today with Neha in our arms. " you will meet someone, and it will be almost as if you have always known her, a strange familiarity"  Words from my psychic just a few months ago. 

I set Neha down to say my final goodbyes to her kind caretakers and take a few last pictures and I turned back to look at the car we were leaving in.  Lucy already had Neha buckled in the car, them both holding plush doggies and talking to each other on their fake cell phones. I swear, the cutest thing I have ever seen.  Not to mention Neha was decked out in beads and glasses, and Lucy's bangles.  It didn't take long for this little girl, sheltered and guarded for so long to just jump right into the mix.  

Neha's homemade case file was given to us for our signatures and another documents backside with a handwritten agreement required our signatures as well.  "Seriously, this is how the whole thing is going down" I thought.  Oh, no wonder this process takes so long. The man in the office needed to write something down in front of me, requiring less than 2 minutes of his time, and that is what makes the whole thing official?    It is all making a whole lot more sense now.  This is bullshit, bureaucratic bullshit. .... I digress.  I actually had to leave the office to go play with the kids because I was getting so annoyed.  The good news is, we were able to see a baby picture of Neha we have never seen.  Of course they could not give it to us, but I took pictures of it anyways.  On the down low no less , because "please no photos" didn't mean anything to me.  And the best news being we left the building of care and bullshit with our Neha. Whatever it takes I guess. 

I would be lying  if I said  I  didn't want to smuggle about  6 more kids out of there, but we were able to make their day with gift of beads, glasses ,and hot wheels.   We had to have all of our donations registered, don't ask me why.  You could tell these kids hadn't received a gift in years . Probably because  Mr Man in the office was planning on repossessing them anyways and he wanted to know what is what he would be taking home to his family.  I hate to sound so crude, but really, I have heard it about 10 times in 3 days on the news.  "what is at the heart of India is corruption, and the only way it will succeed  is  to eliminate this corruption. Unfortunately it seems impossible  because it is at every level"  Keep in mind, this information is admitted by indian authorities themselves. ... And I digress again.  

The moral of the story is yes, it took us what seemed like forever to be able to claim our rightful daughter. But we have claimed her and there is no corruption that can change that now.  We are delighted to have Neha, she is smart, willing to learn, and quite true to her name, Loving and affectionate.  She is free to flourish and prosper. To be what she is meant to be. And "this is our destiny" thank you Rajeev for putting it so perfectly.