After a tumultous trip down to Port-au-Prince, we arrived with much less luggage. We were late getting out of baggage claim. I was waiting to file a lost baggage claim and had left Jack sitting by the conveyor belt with the pieces of luggage that had arrived. As the room emptied, Jack was greeted by Wilbur who was sent in to help us. Jack was quite surprised to be sitting in the PaP baggage claim and have someone come up to him and ask if he was "Jack". He said his initial response was, "Why? Does it show?"
We rolled through an empty customs area and met "the gang" at the truck. And within a second of reaching the car, Jack had fallen for another woman. ;) Forgive the choppiness at the end as I was trying to record, tip the gentlemen helping and greeting everyone. It was a crazy couple minutes compounded with the start of a rain shower.
We weaved through the streets of PaP with Melissa snuggled in Jack's arms. Even Jack noticed that he must be distracted to not be worrying about the lack of seatbelt restraint or car seat.
We arrived at the guesthouse and tried to unpack 2 of the bags that had made it. It was a special and surreal moment that Jack and I both felt overwhelmed by our emotions of it all.
I will admit at this point that with each visit I struggle with the "getting to know you" period with Melissa. I understand she has no reason to remember me given the 2-3 month gaps between visits. She has a book with my voice, pictures and such but I'm still a stranger. As time passes, she recognizes me but I long for the day when her little face lights up with dimples a-glow when she sees me. Someday little one...someday...
