The idea for the panda theme came to us when we were on vacation in Maine. We had started the adoption process for Abby and still had a pretty long wait ahead of us. Every shop we went into had an adorable panda bear. We ignored them for awhile and then we decided to just buy one or two...before we knew it we had to ship a WHOLE box of pandas home!
We decided to go with red for the bottom of the walls because red is considered a good luck color in China. My mom made red and white checked curtains for the two openings that served as a storage closet. My mother in law found an adorable stuffed panda chair. Not sure what inspired the stenciling idea. I, for sure, was not an expert on the topic and did end up calling an artsy neighbor to help me.
Admittedly, the room was created for Abby. And when we moved Abby downstairs to prepare for Baby #2, we were expecting to have another girl. With the news that Baby # 2 was going to be a boy, I initially had ideas of re-doing his room. But then the reality of having to paint Abby's new room made me happy to realize that the room was gender neutral and good to go.
Thinking back to those memories alone would make it hard to paint over the pandas. But I have an even more specific memory that has been stalling me from making the big change. The day I was working on stenciling the room was the same day that Abby's referral pictures were coming via UPS. We knew her name (Chang Ming Qing), her approximate birth date (November 14, 2002), her birth city (Changde), etc. but we did not know what she looked like. We were so anxious to "meet" her through pictures until we could meet her in person.
I can tell you that every time I heard a vehicle I would jump up and look out the window. I did not want to get the dreaded yellow delivery notice! I was not going to wait another day! Finally, I peeked out the window and saw the familiar brown truck. I was down the steps and at the front door before the UPS man had time to get out of his truck!
Like I said...It's time. I know. And now maybe I can do it because I have written this memory down. Even though some of the details are sketchy, the important parts are there. And I have a new realization as Abby and I are talking about ideas for Matthew's new room decor (no, I am not stenciling vacuum cleaners!). Re-painting the room (under Matthew's supervision) will be a NEW memory. And maybe someday I will write about that memory!
