Coming to America

After our 3:45 a.m. wake up call, we headed for the airport. We feared we had seen a sneak preview of things to come on the short flight to Moscow, but still held out hope that things would be better on the longer flight segments home...three hours to Frankfurt, then a five hour layover before the eight hour homestretch flight to Washington.

We and the Wolfes made the conscious decision to sit apart from each other for the flight to Frankfurt, as Zoe and Valeria (a.k.a. Laira) had worked each other into a frenzy during the flight to Moscow.

On the Frankfurt leg, Zoe was a champ and entertained herself with sticker books while Laira slept several rows behind us. The only challenge we faced--one which would continue to plague us throughout the day--was the natural weakness in her gastro-intestinal system brought on by the rapid changes in diet, sleep and anxiety, leading to the first of many clothing changes.

In addition to our being step-by-step with the Wolfes throughout our adoption journey, our girls have been inseparable in their two years together in the orphanage, and that continued after their "release" on Thursday. In the airports, Zoe would try to break away from us to be with Laira, even when we were separated in security lines. We had no idea what would happen in Frankfurt when we would have to go our separate ways. With U.S. geography providing an obstacle, how much did Zoe understand that this would be the last time she would see her best friend for a while? We certainly didn't know how to communicate this to her.

The flight to Frankfurt arrived late, leaving the Wolfes rushed for their connection to Chicago and only time for us to say a quick "goodbye, we'll call you later." We were sure there was going to be a major scene with Zoe running past security to be with Laira, but there wasn't. In the chaos, the girls simply waved goodbye to each other and yelled something I couldn't understand due to the airport noise (not to mention that it was in toddler Russian).

We visited the airport McDonald's during the layover and made good use of their playplace. Then we boarded the final leg to Dulles. Zoe was understandably exhausted, and the incredibly helpful Lufthansa flight attendant looked the other way to allow her to sit on Sari's lap during takeoff rather than forcibly holding her down to wear a seat belt.

Zoe was wide awake as we taxied down the runway. Then a miracle happened. As the sound of the jet engines reached a deafening roar to begin takeoff, Zoe's eyes started to close and she was out cold ten seconds later by the time we lifted off. Thanks to some great work by our travel agent, we got the clutch bulkhead seats with about four feet of legroom in front of us. We put it to good use, making a "nest" for Zoe, where she slept for five hours, until some minor turbulence required us to take her off the floor.
But she slept for another hour in her seat and again kept herself entertained for the remainder of the flight.

As we drew closer to Dulles, we brought out Old Glory from the big bag of toys and snacks. At 3:54 p.m., Lufthansa Flight 418 touched down on American soil, and Zoe Elena Tublin formally became an American citizen.  ¶ 11:37 PM