Eli: “What’s that?”

Chelsea: “You need to keep your eyes on the road!”

Eli: “They are on the road; you know I just like to gawk and see new things.”

Eli: “Did you see that bird? I’ve never seen that one before. How about that tree? That looks like a new one.”

Chelsea: “I only care because I know you do.”

Eli: “So what should we do for our adoption?”

Chelsea:“I don’t know; we have so many choices.”

Both in unison: “We should really figure that out soon.”

Eli: “The History in Charleston is absolutely amazing. Can you even believe how old some of these buildings are and the history that is involved in them?”  

Chelsea: “The south is so cool, but they just don’t have cheese like we do.”

Both at various times: “Could you imagine if we adopted a child who was African American and traveling to the south? What would that even look like? Would we have to do things differently? There really is a lot of slave history in the south; are we prepared to deal with how to handle that?”

The point is that adoption is never far from our minds…ever. Although we take vacations and relax we are always thinking of adoption. As we should be. There are those things in our lives that are constantly on our minds. Adoption to us isn’t unique in that aspect. It is just our thing; like you have yours that you think about on a consistent basis. It is incredible how one can take a “break” from their normal lives but still remain laser focused on certain things. Again, for us that is adoption. It takes center stage. Even when it’s on the proverbial “back burner” it is still in the forefront of our minds and the tips of our tongues. You see, we relate a lot of our future experiences around “what would this be like with kids?” Just the same as many “expectant parents” do, no matter what stage that expectancy is in. The difference is that for us it is going to look different. It looks different for many, again not unique in this, but the unique part is that it isn’t “normal.” And that’s okay.   For most couples the “future planning” part comes when you are pregnant and lasts for the next nine months until your child is born. For some it’s planning before that and a long time before she gets pregnant, and you continue to plan. For others yet it is a trying, wanting and desire to get pregnant all while planning your lives with your future child that never happens. For others still it is planning, getting pregnant miscarrying (in our case twice) and trying to decide what to do. Making the decision to adopt and planning what your family will look like, and waiting, and then deciding again where to go next and continuing to plan what your family will look like.

You see, this is why it is never far from our mind, thoughts, lips, conversations. Whether on vacation or sitting at home by the fire. We think about it, we dwell on it, we try to decide what next and how. That’s okay, it’s just our story.

~ Eli