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We were in town after the coast and then Bruno Mars the night before. I had seen this amazing bedspread in an Instagram pic and the awesome lady told me she bought it at Ikea. My husband did not want to go, but thankfully was a good sport. We ate lunch and were taking our time. I did "check in" from my phone, only the second time I'd ever done that. The first being at the concert the night before. We were about to round the corner to head to the exit and were stopped to pick out a tiny vase for the lucky bamboo Khi convinced me to buy him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her mom (didn't click) then her dad (started to click) then her twin sisters that are 6 and it totally clicked! I whipped around to take a look and saw them all stopped at the next display checking something out. As I looked past them I spotted Kaitlin high-tailing it away from all of us with a cart. No joke...dead run. Lol. I ran back to Robert with my stomach in my throat, heart about to burst from my chest and was desperately trying to relay to him that I had seen Kaitlin and SHE. WAS. HERE!!! Holy crap! What do I do, what do I do? I asked. Then I added that she was running away and I didn't want to freak her out more. He asked if I was sure and I replied yes, but peeked back around the corner. Yep...there she was turned and looking right at me....and fleeing again! Girl can run! She doesn't get that from me! ;) I turned back to Rob and said that I was sure, again asking what to do. He said to just be cool and act normal, put his arm around me and we started walking. Her family was still in the same spot, she was long gone, and I was like we are all here. They are RIGHT. THERE. No way I'm not saying hello. This is no coincidence.
I headed towards her family. Her dad noticed me first and got a huge smile and started walking over. We met half way and hugged. Then I hugged her mom and said hi to her girls. I had introduced my family to them and was just officially being introduced to their twins when Kaitlin walked up and stood next to me with a confident "hello!" And that smile. Sigh. Her dad instantly asked us to get together for a photo, which we happily did. As her mom was explaining to her sisters that I was Kaitlin's birthmom and reminding them how they'd discussed how they came out of her belly, but Kaitlin came out of some one else's and this is her! Meanwhile I was telling my 5 year: "remember how we pray for Kaitlin every night? Well this is Kaitlin!" She then insisted on having her picture taken with her as well. Then Kaitlin's dad looked over at our 2.5 year old in the shopping cart and longingly said "oh, I just want to pick her up and hold her. It's like my baby girl is back again." It was the sweetest. So we then took an picture of "the twins" Kaitlin and Ave...just 13 years apart, but who's counting?
We stood there for awhile talking and a few faves were her dad saying that we were having a family reunion in Ikea, that the birth-father was going to be hanging out in PDX Ikea now, and that we should definitely plan a meeting next time! We all chatted some more and then her dad said that they were going to go and get some frozen yogurt. I started to say goodbye, and he was like "um, you could come with us!" So, we all went to pay and Mekhi (my 11 year old son) was over at the register with them. He then came running back over to us and was like "mom! that lucky bamboo really was lucky and it worked fast!!" Lol. So awesome. I know officially love lucky bamboo as well. We all go some yogurt and sat in the little Ikea courtyard area talking for at least another hour. It was amazing, fun, surreal, totally normal, awesome!!! I loved how Kaitlin and Mekhi were cracking each other up. Seriously. Warmed my heart. At one point Kaitlin and I both stopped and just stared into each other's eyes. I finally kind of laughed and said "I can't believe I'm sitting here looking at you!!" It was truly one of the very best days of my life. We got more big hugs and even mentioned maybe doing a camping trip together. I die! It all the sudden dawned on me on the way to our van that one of the first things her dad said was that he saw we went to the concert the night before (my first check-in), and that he may have totally orchestrated this whole thing. Even so, it's a huge store and the timing was just right. I love him even more if he/they did though. I think it would have been way to crazy for me and too hard for Kaitlin if we had known it was coming!!! It took about 20 minutes driving towards home for me to lose it and start crying as I said a prayer of thanks. I think I was in shock. I look back and hope I didn't sound like a bumbling fool the whole time, but it was so crazy!!! God loves me. It was a total miracle. <3 p="">
