I started 2015 with a
long list of things to accomplish – complete a home study, move, rent or sell
my townhouse, and take Felix to visit extended family. They were all sort of
expensive and time consuming goals, but there were so many variables, so I sort
of just went for it and took each project step by step.
I knew that getting the
call to adopt was a long shot so soon, but it would throw off my plans to buy a
new house or visit relatives, so “just in case”, I got busy on my list. In January I did the home
study, in March I found the house, we closed the day before our trip in April,
and I found a renter for my townhouse a week after that. So far, so good.
Then the house projects
started. I had the carpet replaced, tore out all the junk the previous owners
left behind (random shelves, ugly curtains), weeded the yard, bought and
assembled a mower and mowed the lawn, had the trees pruned, washed and stained
the fence, planned a yard sale…and I had to keep telling myself to relax, that
I wasn’t up against any deadline. I hope to be in this house for 10+ years.
Still, it was hard to take a night off.
On Wednesday I took a
moment at work to straighten up my office, and as I clipped dead flowers off my
lilies, my mind wandered. What if the attorney called TODAY with a baby? What
if all I had to do was drive downtown to pick him or her up at the hospital? I
thought through what that would mean at work, for my intern starting next week,
for the house projects…
I sat back down at my
desk and started working on a project. My cell phone rang. It was the adoption
agency. I was sure they were going to ask about my update for Felix’s birth
mom, which I’m embarrassed to say was overdue because of the trip and moving.
“We have a situation
here that you might be interested in.” Okay…heart racing, I remember very
little of what was said, but thankfully I scribbled notes on a scrap of paper.
They needed my profile book in the next 30 minutes, the expectant mom (emom) is
due in a month and she’s going to deliver at the hospital downtown. No way!
So I postponed a meeting
with my boss and the company president, raced home for the profile copy I’d
kept for myself and ran it over to the agency just in the nick of time. I was a
total ball of nerves until my phone rang again about 24 hours later – again, I
can’t remember what was said, but I got the gist of it. They loved Felix’s
smile and could tell he was so happy, and that did it for them. (Emom enlisted
the help of her mother and teenage son to choose the family.) Eek!
I closed my office door,
cried a few tears, and then had to drive home to meet some mattress delivery
people. I called Carter’s and reserved a Big Brother shirt in 3T, which Felix
and I picked up after work before making the rounds to tell family. It was
priceless watching each person eventually notice Felix’s shirt and put 2 and 2
together.
We are all just blown away that a match happened so fast again this
time, but maybe deep down I knew? For the record, my sister-in-law claims she
knew it wouldn’t take long.
