Messages On The Wire
In late November Joie composed a letter for KJ and sent it to her via our adoption agency. It expressed our thanks for finding her, our hopes that we might be together by Christmas, and our belief that even if that could not happen we would be together soon. It also invited her to send us an email if she was able.
Lo and behold, on the early dark morning of December 14th an email appeared in Joie’s inbox. To hear her tell it she stared at it blankly for while, because it was sent from “Johana_Thelander” and she couldn’t for the life of her remember sending herself an email. We thought of KJ as Kelly, and even though we knew her middle name was the same as Joie’s first name, it never occurred to us that she would want to go by that name. Eventually, though, it dawned in Joie’s sleepy head that the message titled “Mi Carta” was from our new daughter.
We don’t speak Spanish. KJ doesn’t speak English. But we sat down and worked out a rough translation. One paragraph went, (translated) “I am a little bit nervous, but at the same time very happy knowing I will have a forever family, I am trying to learn some English but it is not easy for me but it does not matter, the important is that we can communicate and at least say papa and mama.” The message asked us to chat with her the following Sunday (“I have MSN!”) so I quickly set up MSN Messenger and sent her an email with our login name, TheThelanders.
We went shopping and to lunch, and told our friends and family, “We got an email from Kelly!” But I left the instant messenger running and logged-in, and when we got home I saw that Kelly had been trying to reach us. She must have seen that The Thelanders were logged-in, and I imagine her in her Internet Café or library, jumping at the chance to talk to us. Here are the lines that greeted us when we came home:
12/18/2004 4:41:08 PM johana: hola......:D
12/18/2004 4:42:46 PM johana: hello....hello....:'(
12/18/2004 4:48:49 PM johana: father....I am here.<:o) 12/18/2004 4:52:36 PM johana: My name is Johana Thelander....Hello....you are here...father... 12/18/2004 5:21:52 PM johana: chao....si Dios quiere, mañana hablamos.....:-*(K)(O)
For forty minutes our girl had sat there in a Colombian town, trying to reach out to her new family. In her tentative English she landed on words that inflated our hearts: father… My name is Johana… If God wishes, tomorrow we’ll talk… I went back to these words many times that night, trying to imagine where she was and what she was doing.
The following day we chatted with KJ at 5:00 in the morning, Portland time. Joie’s friend Ruth came in the predawn dark to help us translate, and for almost an hour we were connected with our daughter. But still, I keep going back to the lines she sent when she was alone and we were not there to hear. I hope she knows that we were with her in our hearts, just as we have been for these many months. I hope she learns that she will never really be alone again, even when no one answers.
Lo and behold, on the early dark morning of December 14th an email appeared in Joie’s inbox. To hear her tell it she stared at it blankly for while, because it was sent from “Johana_Thelander” and she couldn’t for the life of her remember sending herself an email. We thought of KJ as Kelly, and even though we knew her middle name was the same as Joie’s first name, it never occurred to us that she would want to go by that name. Eventually, though, it dawned in Joie’s sleepy head that the message titled “Mi Carta” was from our new daughter.
We don’t speak Spanish. KJ doesn’t speak English. But we sat down and worked out a rough translation. One paragraph went, (translated) “I am a little bit nervous, but at the same time very happy knowing I will have a forever family, I am trying to learn some English but it is not easy for me but it does not matter, the important is that we can communicate and at least say papa and mama.” The message asked us to chat with her the following Sunday (“I have MSN!”) so I quickly set up MSN Messenger and sent her an email with our login name, TheThelanders.
We went shopping and to lunch, and told our friends and family, “We got an email from Kelly!” But I left the instant messenger running and logged-in, and when we got home I saw that Kelly had been trying to reach us. She must have seen that The Thelanders were logged-in, and I imagine her in her Internet Café or library, jumping at the chance to talk to us. Here are the lines that greeted us when we came home:
12/18/2004 4:41:08 PM johana: hola......:D
12/18/2004 4:42:46 PM johana: hello....hello....:'(
12/18/2004 4:48:49 PM johana: father....I am here.<:o) 12/18/2004 4:52:36 PM johana: My name is Johana Thelander....Hello....you are here...father... 12/18/2004 5:21:52 PM johana: chao....si Dios quiere, mañana hablamos.....:-*(K)(O)
For forty minutes our girl had sat there in a Colombian town, trying to reach out to her new family. In her tentative English she landed on words that inflated our hearts: father… My name is Johana… If God wishes, tomorrow we’ll talk… I went back to these words many times that night, trying to imagine where she was and what she was doing.
The following day we chatted with KJ at 5:00 in the morning, Portland time. Joie’s friend Ruth came in the predawn dark to help us translate, and for almost an hour we were connected with our daughter. But still, I keep going back to the lines she sent when she was alone and we were not there to hear. I hope she knows that we were with her in our hearts, just as we have been for these many months. I hope she learns that she will never really be alone again, even when no one answers.
posted by Michael Thelander at 6:41 PM
<< Home