The Day Andy Came

Andy was born on June 19, 1963, and came to us when he was five days old. That day was one of the most wonderful days of my life. Mom and Dad chose Aunt Jane, Mom's very first and dearest friend, to get Andrew from Pittsburgh, where he was born, with our lawyer, Mr. Havlin. Aunt Jane came from her home in West Chester either the night before or early in the morning and then we drove her to the airport. We arrived so late at the airport, that even though Aunt Jane had no bags to check in, she barely made the plane, and I will never forget the sight of her, holding on to her hat as she raced across the tarmack to the stairs to the plane. She did make it!
Here is a picture of Aunt Jane about 35 years later. She looks exactly the same today as she looks in this picture and looked exactly the same on the day she went to get Andy. She says that the day she brought Andy home was a day she treasures.


Aunt Jane has fun telling about this trip. She and Mr. Havlin got in the plane with Andy to go back to Philadelphia, and she had only a little diaper bag and was feeding Andy with a bottle. I remember her saying that when the plane took off, he was holding her fingers with his hands and he squeezed them. It must have looked odd to people, since Aunt Jane and Mr. Havlin did not seem to be quite man and wife, and Mr. Havlin was concentrating on paperwork. So a lady who was sitting across the aisle spoke up to Aunt Jane: "What a beautiful baby." "Yes, he is," said Aunt Jane. "It's such a new baby," the lady said. "Yes, he is," said Aunt Jane. Then the lady became a bit alarmed and said to Aunt Jane, "You're not going to give that baby away are you?" and Aunt Jane said, "Oh no. I would never give this baby away." The lady was stumped. End of conversation.
Meanwhile, we were waiting for our stork and our baby. In an attempt to try to ease our nervous anticipation, Mom took John and me to the zoo, and even allowed my "boyfriend" of the time to come, and I remember strolling through the lion house extremely happy. Of course there were no cell phones then and I do not know what communications went on between Mom, Dad, Aunt Jane, and Mr. Havlin throughout the day--or even if any occurred. We got home, and I am not sure how Aunt Jane got from the airport to our house that evening, but she did, bringing Andy with her in his receiving blankets and little baby undershirt and diapers. What a blessing for us!
I remember holding him on the brown sofa in the living room. I was very, very happy. We had all wanted another baby in the house, and Andy finally came to us through private adoption after my mother had two very difficult miscarriages. Was Andy destined for our family? I think so.
As you will see from the pictures that we will be posting, Andy was loved of course by Mom and Dad and also very much by his big brother John (a difference in age of 4 years) and by me, his 14-year-old sister. Here Andy is, probably at the age of 2 months or so, being held by his Grandma Gill (he was her favorite) and then joined by a pensive and loving brother.