A few days later on July 13 we received word the birth parents wanted us to meet them. We booked travel immediately and confirmed a meeting with them at Panera Bread in the DC area on July 18.
We dropped off Cole for a weekend of fun with the Arvid's at their little lake house. Cole loves playing with their sons Jimmy & Christopher and Godparents Thomas and Vanessa love to spoil him. As we drove home Merry and I talked about our vision of the meeting the next day. I wanted to rehearse, while Merry asked me to "just be myself, but don't talk too much and scare them!" I told her to expect a lot of questions...I had a feeling the couple would really want to get to know us before making a decision. We ended up talking more about raising Cole and what is important to our family, which really helped calm me down a bit.
Close Call
The next morning we flew out to DC for our meeting. We were excited and nervous, but determined to not to show that to each other. Everything was going great until in the air, halfway to our destination, the captain came on the loud speaker: "we've got a slight problem with one of our engines--we're going to have to turn back to Atlanta." The plane noticeably slowed down after turning around. Our hearts started beating and minds started racing...not only we were going to miss meeting the birthparents, but what would happen to Cole if something happened? White knuckled we got off the plane to find another waiting for us. A quick call to reassure them we would make our meeting a little late and we were back in the air with an hour.
We arrived at Panera and introduced ourselves to the young 21 yr old couple. I think Merry knew I was right when they each pulled out a pad of questions to ask us. After about two and half hours, we were exhausted, but felt really good about this couple. Not only were they incredibly mature, they were committed to a process that would ensure they would find the best home for their little girl. The birth father told us we had made a connection, but they wanted to interview three or four more couples. We had made the first impression. It was up to the rest to top us.
Exhausted that afternoon, Merry and I returned to the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City for a night of room service, a movie and much needed rest. Merry couldn't wait any longer...I can't tell you how happy she looked as we sat in the lounge looking at the skyline and imagined someday holding our little girl.
