Pieces of my heart

I've been away from the blogging world for awhile, so I have quite a bit of catching up to do, including posting some recent pics of the Dumpling.

This is just a quick little story.

Yesterday we had a picnic in the park with our local Families with Children from China group. Dumplings Mama was in Nevada at a wedding from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, so I was on Weekend Auntie Duty. We had a good evening on Friday, a fantastic day (that even included ME getting a nap) on saturday, and Sunday we had the picnic. While I was starting to feel a little tired, I was quite enjoying my weekend with Dumpling. At the picnic one of the women I know who shares my Log in Date (for her 2nd daugther) introduced me to her sister who is also single and adopted. However, since her sister is currently living in Beijing teaching, she was expedited, so even with a much later Log in date, she is already home with her daughter. At first she didn't realize that I wasn't Dumpling's Mama, so after I explained that I was her Auntie, she looked at me a little quizzically.

She said, "so how is it taking care of someone elses child?"

I was taken aback and said, "well I've known Dumpling since the day she arrived home from China, I see her every week. The question was not ill intended, but I wondered why it struck me so strange and I felt like it attempted to cut me off from that special bond that Dumpling and I have. And that's when I realized, Dumpling is not just my dear friend's daugther, she is also a piece of my heart. And I smiled as I started to think about the other pieces of my heart in my life- Ruby, Hazel, Liana, Eva, Zoe... When you get a "running hug" each time you see "your friend's children", they are no longer your "friend's Children", but little pieces of your heart.