Think of this adoption as...

...the most unlikely combination of events imaginable...an unlikely bridge between two places in spacetime...you know, a wormhole.

This evening, I thought we'd surely hit the benchmark, the defining moment which galvanized the spidery webs of hope and imagination into a very tangible event--plane tickets.

It's funny how a flight itinerary can make things real. While we made preparations for Iraq nearly two years ago--can it be two years already since that magical summer?--I existed in some sort of dreamworld, flowing from immunizations to supply lists to lesson plans to packing, and suddenly one day we had tickets. Until that moment, Iraq was a far-off land, and in that moment, it became very real and very close.

That's how it was tonight. Finally, e-tickets!!! And even if I haven't printed them yet, there is this sort of irrevocable sense of certainty, as if the journey to Yo-Yo has finally wound its way from rutted dirt lane to pavement. I babbled on the phone for 2 hours with who knows who about our flights.

And then the roof blew off even that.

T, the tireless co-hope of Yo-Yo's house, Skyped me. Rather, she told me to Skype her. And I, wildly insecure about my appearance in the best of times, much less in the wee sma's of Central Time, Skyped her. We talked for all of 20 minutes, but I may as well have been talking to Amelia Earhart tonight for as real as it felt. I can't begin to say how nervous I was--but it was for the best of causes that I stuck with it--and I ended up feeling not unlike those uncharted times in high school on first dates. I am going to be this boy's Mom--I AM his Mom! What do I say to not let them know how dumb I really am? What if she thinks I'm too ugly to be his Mom? Too fat? What if she comes away from our conversation pouring out amidst giggles and fits and starts and wireless interruptions and pixelated faces and thinks, "Maybe this isn't the best idea?"

Don't ask me why it felt like a casting call. It just did. And T was the kindest, gentlest person, self-effacing when it came to talking about her work, concerned that we'd have to figure out how to navigate introductions with Yo-Yo, delighted to be chatting casually about this event that will forever be the quantum bubble of our Big Bang. This is our zero, our shift from one end of infinity to the other. Before & After.

And it started with my first Skype. What a spaceship!