Waiting

It's been seven days since the earthquake in Haiti. I have not heard from Michel. I have posted her information on several international websites, but have not been able to speak directly with anyone from the State Department about her situation. It's chaos in Haiti and everyone is overwhelmed. We are just another case. Yesterday, Grant forwarded her information to a colleague of his at Teach For America who has strong ties to Haiti. She is going to see what her relatives in Haiti can find out for us. Michel's town of Jacmel was featured in a Wall Street Journal article yesterday, a depressing article of how relief has been slow to reach smaller towns.

A few of the moms from Quinn's kindergarten have reached out to me with great concern about my "mom" in Haiti. Quinn has shared my story with his classmates and they have gone home to share Quinn's story with their parents. It seems almost irrelevant that she is not my biological mother. Mother? Total all the minutes and hours and days and years of loving someone with every ounce of yourself and and you are scarcely left with any other word but mother to describe the relationship you have built. She didn't have kids of her own. She had me and my sister Lara. And we had her.