The Amazing Race

Two years ago today we took part in the most inspired race of our lives...

Once upon a time, a man and a woman who lived in the village of Osceola were trying to build a family through adoption. They waited and waited until one day the news was delivered that a little boy was waiting for them in the country of Guatemala. They all hoped to be united very soon, but the forces of PGN (Guatemala Attorney General) kept them apart for many months. So the man and woman continued to wait, and the little boy continued to wait until one day the man and the woman received the very good news that it was time to bring their little boy home.

As it happens, a fortnight earlier, the man and the woman had had just about enough, and they made plans to visit their little boy. They told their family of their plans, and their family was very excited. They told their friends of their plans, and their friends were very excited. They told their coworkers of their plans, and their coworkers were very excited. They told near-strangers of their plans, and they at least pretended to be very excited. Just before the man and the woman left their home in the village of Osceola to visit their little boy in the country of Guatemala is when they received this very good news that it was time to bring their little boy home.

The man and the woman were so excited they could hardly sleep. And the next day they were so tired they slept for half of an entire day. And the next day was the day that they had been waiting for so long. The next day was the day they met their little boy.

The man and the woman recognized their little boy right away – his bright eyes, his gentle soul, his bountiful cheeks. He had become part of them during the waiting time. The little boy took only one and a half days to begin to recognize the man and the woman. You see, up until this time, he had been cared for by another since his first day on earth. For nearly three quarters of a year he knew only her and the others in her house. Knowing this, it is quite remarkable that it took the little boy only one and a half days to begin to recognize the man and the woman.

The three of them, a new family, spent three days in the capital city of the country of Guatemala, during which they experienced an earthquake that swayed their lodging. Then the family of three spent three days in the city of Antigua, during which they saw a smoking volcano from the window of their room. Then the family of three returned to the capital city for almost a week, during which they waited and waited and waited for the news that they could finally return home. They visited a doctor and they waited. They sent messages home and they waited. They ate, drank, slept, and they waited. At long last, toward the end of the week, they learned that the very important meeting they had been waiting for would be the very next day, but they would have to wait four more days to receive the very important papers necessary to return home, and one more day to make the trip. This was very glad news as the man and the woman now knew when their new family would finally be home. This was also very sad news as the man’s grandmother had passed away while the man and the woman were in the country of Guatemala, and to wait this long would mean the man and the woman and the little boy would miss the very important celebration of the grandmother’s splendid life.

The day of the very important meeting had arrived. The man and the woman were very excited, and the little boy thought he might be excited, too, but he was not certain as to why. The family of three went to the very important meeting with another new family of three from the nearby city of Stillwater. When they arrived at the very important building, the two families waited and waited for their very important meetings along with many other families waiting for their own very important meetings. While the two families waited and waited, they talked and talked. And during their talking, the other family told of a horrifying adventure that happened only two nights earlier. The man of the other family had arrived in the country of Guatemala late in the evening, and he was robbed, and he was shot at, but quite importantly he escaped unharmed. As a result of this horrifying adventure, the man of the other family had spent much time at the very important building in which they were all waiting for their very important meetings.

After a portion of the morning had passed it was time for the very important meeting. The man and the woman and their little boy entered a tiny room with no sunlight and the man and the woman answered a handful of questions asked by a very stern lady. The man and the woman, in turn, asked one question: “May we please go home today so that we can join in the celebration of Grandmother Stella Mae’s splendid life?” The very stern lady replied without hesitation that it was impossible. The man and the woman and the little boy left the tiny windowless room and waited and waited a bit longer. As they waited, many other new families left the very important building, until finally the man and the woman and the little boy and the family from the nearby city of Stillwater were the only two new families remaining.

Then it was time for another very important meeting, and this time the man and the woman and the little boy approached a very kind woman on the other side of a window in the same room as the room in which they had been waiting all along. The man and the woman answered a handful of questions asked by the very kind woman, and they promised whole-heartedly to take very good care of the little boy. In turn, the man and the woman asked one question: “May we please go home today so that we can join in the celebration of Grandmother Stella Mae’s splendid life?” The very kind woman apologized for the passing of the man’s grandmother, and she explained that the family from the nearby city of Stillwater had told her about the man’s grandmother, and she mentioned that it was a very unusual, exceptional situation, and she said, “Yes, you can go home today”.

So the man and the woman thanked the family from the nearby city of Stillwater and when they received their very important papers they fled. They fled to the inn, where they had been sleeping and waiting for nearly one whole week, to pack their bags and find a way home. They fled to the lobby to catch a shuttle to the airport. They fled through the airport to catch their flight. They fled through the next airport to catch their next flight. They fled and fled and fled, and felt almost as if they themselves were flying. They fled with feelings of relief and disbelief that they were finally going home. And in the final fleeing of the day, they fled through the final airport to find their baggage. There they also found the woman’s mother and father who had only known of their homecoming for a pair of hours, and the woman’s aunt and uncle and cousins all waiting to meet the little boy and to greet the new family of three for a most happy late-night welcoming.

The story does not end there for the very next day was the celebration of the man’s grandmother’s splendid life. That morning the man and the woman and the little boy entered the building of the celebration much to the surprise of the man’s family who believed that the man and the woman and the little boy were still in the country of Guatemala. There were proclamations and exclamations and tears of joy as the man’s mother and father and dear aunt met the little boy they, too, had been waiting for. Quite a marvelous way to celebrate Grandmother Stella Mae’s splendid life of one century and one year, as well as the unrelenting passing of seasons.

And the story does not end even there for every day is a new adventure adding to the journey of life, the journey of this new family of three.