Women Ai Nimen

The title of this post translates to we love you (plural).  These beautiful people are Louise's parents and her friend.  They drove three hours to meet us at the Shanghai airport!  Do I need to tell you how fun it is to walk through the doors through immigration at an airport in *China* and see the smiling faces of three people who are there to meet you?  One of those faces we even recognized from having met her before, and she was beaming.  What joy.  Good thing the interpreter, Candy, was there because we really wanted to be able to tell them how much we love their daughter.  They walked with us to another terminal in the airport so we could get something to eat and visit.  Candy was having to play both sides of the net, but she did a great job.  Louise's mom is a fantastic knitter and sewer, and she gave us a few dresses that she had made for Maryn, Tenley and me.  Beautiful.  (For Christmas this year, Louise game me a camisole her mom had knitted on, I'm not lying, needles as big around as toothpicks.  The stitching, including cabling, is perfect and looks like it was done on a machine.  It is a good thing I saw her knitting one when she was staying with Louise for six months back in 2008 or I wouldn't believe she'd done it herself.)

They were kind enough to stay with us the whole time even though we were less than perfect company.  Eventually we were plum tuckered out and fighting sleep, except for Maryn who actually did sleep, but they stuck with us.  And, you know, it was a good thing they did.  When we checked our bags in at the start of the trip, the agent told us they were checked through to Hefei.  We clarified:  they are checked through to Hefei, and we don't have to get them when we get to Shanghai?  Nope.  Well that's not correct, Missy, but, of course, we didn't find that out until we tried to check in for the flight to Hefei.  Turns out you can't check in without the bags you got to Shanghai, unless of course you don't care if the bags arrive with you at the next stop, and the agent at the counter in Shanghai was able to explain that to Louise's parents.  The sprint was on for her dad, Candy and Tom who had to hightail it back to the terminal where we had arrived, locate the bags, get them on a cart and push the cart at a brisk pace back to the terminal from which we were leaving.  Maryn and I stayed behind sitting down while mama waited in line with the cart of backpacks and gifts she'd given us.  As more people came to check in, she let them go around her, but she was right where she needed to be when the three of them returned with the cart o' suitcases.  Waiting in line in *China* should always be done by someone who is Chinese, or at least has years of experience doing such in *China*.  She was the right woman for the job.  When it was time to say goodbye, I teared up.  They are wonderful people, and it's hard knowing Louise has not seen them in a long time.  I gave them as many hugs as was more than socially acceptable, and then they waved to us till we couldn't see each other anymore.

This morning we had a call on our rented phone.  It was Louise's  parents calling to make sure we got where we were supposed to be.  At least that's what we believe to be the purpose of the call.  There were a few ni hao's (hello) and a few hao's (good, okay) given on both sides before a zai jian (goodbye) grand finale.  We didn't have Candy to fall back on, but we didn't need an interpreter because we know what was in their hearts.  Looking forward to seeing them again someday.