November is National Adoption Month

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that November is National Adoption Month & although this year, the focus is on children & youth in foster care, adoption, open or closed, domestic or international, boy or girl, is the greatest sense of love you will ever experience. I will never forget the day Phil suggested we look into adoption; we were in the midst of infertility hell & I looked at him as though he was crazy, joking to lighten the mood or, had simply given up? Man was I wrong! A close friend of his was in a similar situation & suggested that since it takes YEARS to adopt, we should at least start the process with the hope of someday maybe getting a baby. Well, after the initial shock & a lot of “oh shit we’re doing this,” we jumped in full throttle. From creating our adoption album book to interviewing agencies to well, there wasn’t much more to… after that because what happened next was a miracle. Within a week of meeting the adoption attorney we chose to hire & handing over our book, I got THE phone call. Sitting in my office completely oblivious to how my world was about to change & preparing for years of disappointment, I took the call.

When I hear friends, young & old, talk about their plans for a family & how they will start trying in this month so they can have a baby in that month I get so frustrated. Mostly, because that was me. I too had a plan. In fact many plans & most, have gone in the opposite direction. The direction that has led me to where I am today; the luckiest, happiest person in the world all because Phil wasn’t afraid + I was terrified = we created the family we always wanted.

So, if I can tell you one thing that I’ve learned is that life doesn’t go according to plan & if it does, you’ve done something wrong. If you always get what you want when you want it & how, you will never appreciate what you have. There are no “Life Plans”, no magic ball that’s going to predict how things will turn out but that’s cool… even great! It’s the challenges you experience along the way that get you to where you need to be.

Had I known then what I know now, well… I wouldn’t do anything differently except tell more people about our experience with adoption & while I admit we got extremely lucky… Karma baby, if you’re struggling with a decision like adoption merely because of what others will think or, it’s just not in “your plan”, you’ve got to ask yourself one question. What do you ultimately want? If it’s a family, then that’s your answer so, jump in. It will be the scariest & most gratifying experience of your life & then, your life will change forever & in the most awesome way possible!