Photo Treasures

For whatever reason it took me until yesterday to develop the photos on the 2 cameras that I left behind for the 5 months we were apart.  I think mostly it was because I was gifted the 61 pictures from the Baba's of Corbin during his stay at Casa De baby orphanage.  I got to see so much of his life and times.  The pictures of him in his crib smiling up at the camera, the one of him hugging one of his little friends and especially the oldest ones from not long after he came to live there will provide him as much history and "baby pictures" as we will ever likely have.  So back to the new pictures.  More than anything, I got to see that they helped him to remember that he was loved by a Mama who promised to come back.  Now I can't say for certain that he remembered me when I walked in that sunny day in May but I can now see that they did their best to try to keep showing him the photo album I left behind.  There are probably 8 pictures of him on different days looking at the book.  For me, this is a little piece of mind in demonstrating again that they truly do care for their children and that they want to help them understand as much as they can about life going on around them.
One of the most profound questions I had during the wait was "will he remember me?" - I'll never truly know if he did - he came out to me, smiled shyly and took my hand.  At that moment, it no longer mattered if he remembered me - all we had was that moment... and every one after it.  When we were home for 5 months (the same amount of time I was gone between trips) I pondered the question of if he remembered Anna from Khabarovsk - she was with him for only a few days.  My answer was probably not.  But Anna didn't give him a photo album full of promise and hope for a forever Mama.  I'd hazard a guess that he probably didn't really remember me but now it doesn't matter a lick.