Lucky

Last Saturday Josh and I went to eat at our favorite sushi joint.  Josh is sort of the "Norm!!"  of this place and so it is always fun to go. Everyone recognizes him. The waitresses are always super helpful and the sushi chef and Josh know each other on a first name basis.  Typically we go for dinner, but we found ourselves there at lunch and so we were seeing a lot of waitresses for the first time in nine months.  They all took turns loving on E boy.  One of the waitresses then pointed at my now thoroughly pregnant tummy and raised her eyebrows at us.  And so we explained that we had adopted our sweet boy and then after trying for nine years got pregnant three months later.  And yes, that meant they'd be a week short of a year apart.  After the typical HOLY MOLEY! pause, the waitress grabbed Josh's arm and fervently explained to him what this means in Korean culture.  I'm going to use her phrasing because it seems more correct that way. 

She explained that often when a couple in Korea have not received a child they adopt.  If then the couple became pregnant the first child became known as the "Lucky Child."  This Lucky Child was to be honored and respected above the other children because the Lucky Child had opened God's eyes and been the doorway for blessings in our family. She then proceeded to tell us that if we wanted to stay in the goodwill of heaven we MUST honor Elliot. He must be highly praised and loved. She took time to look us both in the eyes making sure we understood how important it was.  She then leaned over our son, ran her fingers through his hair and said, "Lucky Baby."

It felt like she'd just given us a beautiful blessing.  We have no doubt there was a plan here.  He is supposed to be our first child and he will always be a source of joy for all of our family.  But I can't shake the urgency in which she reminded us to honor him, to love him, to know he had brought us luck. And we do feel so lucky to have a remarkable boy living with us each day and to have a brother coming.  The joy cannot be explained.  I was truly moved by her sharing these details with us and how she gently admonished us to remember how blessed we are. I can't help but feel that our Elliot will love to hear that he is our "Lucky Child."