Boxer Shorts

In July, I flew back to Addis Ababa with our oldest son, Seth. We joined Lee, who was already there, and we brought Yosef and Daniel to our hotel. They learned that very afternoon that we would be their family. The Gizaw brothers, their friend from the orphanage, Hailegabriel, and Lee's friend Ezra Silk, had such an uproarious time together in two hotel rooms that a gentleman from Nigeria, a United Nations official occupying the room next door, was obliged to call the front desk more than once to plead for quiet.

One evening, after a long day of sightseeing and soccer and frisbee, Seth herded Yosef into the bathroom, turned on the shower, pantomimed what was required, and withdrew.

A few minutes later, Yosef came dancing out of the bathroom dripping wet and stark naked.

Seth shooed him back into the bathroom, took Yosef's boxer shorts, threw them in after him, and closed the door again.

Yosef danced back out into the room, dripping wet and with the boxer shorts on his head.

He had selected two from among the dozen words of English he knew. As he leapt wildly into the room, he asked, "YOU READY?"

Lee later said of the boys: "These are the two happiest human beings I've ever seen in my life."


Yosef in hotel room, July 2006



Lee, Yosef & Seth in hotel room




(This post first appeared at www.PowellsBooks.blog during my stint as guest blogger)