Back from New England

Yup, we were in New England again, 3rd time this month. And, guess what, we drive up to move into the hotel next weekend... gluttons for punishment, boy that drive sucks.

This weekend though the drive was EASY. We lucked out.

We were visiting friends of ours, ironically, friends from the company I am now leaving, this was our first visit to see them! How funny! (we also stopped in to see how the new house was progressing and picked out some of the interior stuff)

My friend and his wife have adopted 3 kids from China, all of them wonderful. Though I've been on the receiving end of the good news when the adoption referrals came through, I never really 'knew' the family. He was a work colleague of mine, in a different office, in another state. We caught up every few months in person or in email over the years, sometimes much further apart than that.

Our paths crossed again last year, just before Sophia died and then a few months after. A and D, and what little I knew about their situation, their children, about the path they selected and why, are why we actually wound up adopting and from China after all. I felt better knowing someone, pretty much the ONLY ones in our lives, who had adopted, it gave me some extra courage to take that chance.

So, A and D, bet you never knew that? Well, it's true, the adoption seed was planted in my head many years ago, when your first daughter was referred, then I met E, we tried to conceive naturally, tried to conceive 'un-naturally' (this friend of mine once joked there was nothing natural about fertility treatments and natural is what happens to teenagers in the back of a car!!! -He is right) and decided the international adoption route was where we should have been all along.

Being at their house this weekend was wonderful, their kids are incredible, fun, entertaining, crazy, funny, loving and happy. They gave us an insight into our future. They even had a get together with other adoptive families in the area. As we sat around the pool this evening before leaving, E and I shared a thought between us, about how nice it was to be surrounded by families that we would one day look like. We felt a bond, a sense of community, of belonging that I don't think we've ever felt. At times we still feel like we don't quite fit into the norm, into society and even into parts of our family. But this weekend, we belonged.

We chatted about LID's, seals, dossiers, referrals, travel trips (the highs and lows), and listened to their favorite tips. These are conversations that most in our life just don't understand. It's not that they can't, it's just that as of right now, 6 months since we started the paperwork, not many know these terms, what they mean, how important they are. I hope some do learn, that they grow to understand a very important aspect of our life. But either way, we will always have a very close knit community that does understand. I don't think there's anything else like it in life.
A and D, you've given us a gift we won't soon forget, we are fortunate to know each of you and your children. Thanks for a wonderful weekend, we wished we could have stayed longer. We loved seeing the adoption videos of the kids, it was really touching.(lump in the throat...)