Coincidentally, it is also the month of celebrating Diwali, and the Krishna Temple about an hour south of where we live was hosting a Diwali festival so...
 |
| Food |
 |
| Dancing |
 |
 |
| Wishes for the new year |
 |
| More wishes |
 |
| Fireworks |
And of course what Diwali and adoption have in common is this beautiful girl...
Gabby hasn't been super interested until recently in anything to do with her native Indian culture. My guess is it has to do with adjustment, assimilation, fitting in...
Then we saw the Diwali Festival sign at the Indian store a few weeks ago and she wanted to go so we put it in the calendar. Today was the big day and starting last night there were a list of Gabby related reasons not to go to this festival...
"My throat hurts..."
"I think I'm going to throw up..."
"My tailbone hurts." (If you're a parent, you know you can't make this stuff up. She fell playing Just Dance on Wii.)
But in spite of nerves, we went...
Admittedly it was a bit odd hiking up a hill of sagebrush in the freezing cold November air to the very Indian looking temple at the top of the hill, but once inside, we followed the crowd, found the food, found the dancing, made some new year wishes, and enjoyed the fireworks.
And Miss Gabby was fine...no physical complaints all evening. And now she's really sure she wants to take Indian dancing lessons, and wants to go back soon (good thing there's a Hindu temple closer to our house).
Then tonight when she was getting ready for bed, Gabby said the most amazing thing. "You know what, Mom? When I was watching those girls dance, I thought that Indian girls really are beautiful." Then she said, "And I'm beautiful just like them."
Wow. And that, folks, is what it's all about. Adoption is both roots and wings, and tonight I realized that one little evening celebrating an Indian festival in the cold November air gave Gabby both...or at least access to both.
I'm so, so happy to be an adoptive parent.
No comments:
Post a Comment