Forever Family

Memories may be beautiful and yet

What’s too painful to remember 

We simply choose to forget

Yes, I am quoting sappy Barbara Streisand songs.  That’s what a Monday will do to ya.  It makes you do crazy things.

The weather guy called for partly sunny skies today, but out my window all I see is mist.  For some reason, the dull gray and closeness of the fog makes me nostalgic.  Therefore, I shall grace you with a little more of our “Bringing Home Kiddo” story.  

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were matched to a child before we even got our license.  The hard part had been done and all we needed was a home inspection, which our social worker frantically completed the day following the call about our match.  I suppose this is a big reason why our basement did not become an issue.

I VIVIDLY remember getting that call about the match.  I was at work, sitting in my office, and plugging away at the daily grind.  The caller ID comes up as the DFACS office (a very distinctive number that I had already remembered).  Not expecting to hear from them, I answered cheerfully.  

On the other line was the social worker who had been conducting our training.  She wanted to know if we had heard from Lori (not her real name, but I have changed to protect identity, etc.).  I had not heard from Lori, and wasn’t even sure who Lori was.  The social worker said Lori was the worker assigned to us and would be contacting us to conduct our home inspection ASAP.

My radar went off.  ASAP?  What’s the rush?

As the social worker explained, we had been matched to a baby.  Holy freaking crap!  (yes I know.  I used the word).  She needed Lori to finish our license steps and wanted to set up a date where we could do a meet and greet.

Yeah!  Sure!  Whatever we need to do!  I can be home in 10 minutes if you want to send Lori out now!  I will do ANYTHING you need me to do!

We chat a little longer about when we’re all going to meet, and we hang up.  My heart was POUNDING.  Then it occurs to me.  I didn’t get any details about the baby!  I heard that there was one, and I freaked out so much that I didn’t think to ask!  DOH!

I immediately call back the social worker, praying that she answers the phone.  SHE DOES NOT!  Double DOH!

I leave a v/m, and try to resume working.  I say try, because my heart was STILL pounding and focusing on stupid work just wasn’t doing much for me.  I wanted to run outside of my office, I wanted to pick up the phone, I wanted to just shout at the top of my lungs, “WE HAVE A BABY!!!!!!”

Fortunately, the social worker called me back about 10 minutes later.  Well, in real time it was 10 minutes.  In my head it was 10 years.  In that 10 years I had actually regressed into some kind of neanderthal blathering idiot.  It was not pretty.

Somehow the social worker understood enough of what I was trying to ask to give me details about the baby.  He was a little boy, about 3 months old, currently in another foster home, some info about his health, some info about his case, and his name.  It just so happens that he shares a name with some important men in my life.

This was clearly a sign.  It was meant to be.

By the end of the call, I had gone from blathering idiot to balling my eyes out.  

Stop.  Take a deep breath.  Try to stop shaking enough that you can dial the phone.  Come on.  Get it together.

And so I called Hubby.  I relayed the info to him.  That is my one regret of the day.  I really wish I could have been with him when we found out about Kiddo.  Sharing this moment over the phone robbed us of that initial celebration as a parent unit.

After I hung up with him, I practiced some deep breathing techniques.  Work was pretty much lost at this point.  No way was I going to get anything else done today.  I knew I shouldn’t get too excited yet, (cause so much could still happen) but I had to share my news.  I scampered off to spread the good news with coworkers.  

That’s a pretty good memory, right?  You’re probably wondering why I chose a rather depressing quote from the “Way We Were.”   Yes, that was a good day.  But there were some not so good days to come, which I relay in another post.  For now, I want to relish the goodness of that day.

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