Back From DC and the Adoption Conference

We are back from DC and what a trip. First, the conference itself didn’t have wi-fi so we couldn’t live tweet. Too expensive. We tried to hack into another conference going on, but password protected. So we have a bunch to talk about and get out. DH has about 10 pages of typed-notes from the panel sessions (probably more like 6 but 10 seems more intense so I went with that, but he hates when I exaggerate a story for impact.) (Aren't we exciting enough?-DH) We heard from some very inspiring speakers, many of them adoptive mothers who cried during their presentations which spoke to me on the extremely-dramatic-public-displays-of-emotion level that I identify with and appreciate. Just ask my Resolve group. So, we need to gather our reactions and will blog about those more thoughtfully, because there is some great inspiring things there. However, let’s share some superficial observations from the conference...

First, the conference was at a Gaylord Property. Have you ever been to one of those? They are insane. I want to live in one of those. I told DH that when we are living in the post-nuclear period (it is happening, for sure) I want to receive my housing assignment in a Gaylord. It is a completely self-contained eco-system. If we could have afforded the nightly room-rate and gotten a room, we never would have had to leave the compound. I probably should mention that DH and I love hotels. If you are not into hotels, you probably wouldn’t be impressed. We love a good hotel. We even prefer to go to hotel bars for cocktails instead of just regular restaurants. We are thinking about planning our next vacation at a Gaylord. This time however, we took a cheap motel (please note I said MOTEL, not hotel) four miles from the conference. However, we woke up extra early each morning so we could go spend time in the hotel’s common areas before the conference.

Second, we won a prize!!! I don’t care what the prize is, a prize is a prize is a prize and winning one always makes you feel good. The conference had a twitter contest and gave away three copies of “Adoption Factbook V” (which DH calls, literally, Factbook V. As in the letter “V”, not Factbook 5) to the first three people who tweeted with the conference hashtag on the day it started. Gentle twitter followers of ours...you will have noticed that I tweeted at 5:30 AM that we were on our way to DC for the 11 hour drive. This tweet locked me in as the first official twitter. This book is 533 pages of facts, statistics, and charts that will give me endless joy and countless opportunities to reference, cross-check, and use the word “actually” when beginning a counter point argument. It is the gift that keeps on giving. I plan on pulling out random studies and using them as blog inspirations...stay tuned for that!

Third, totally weird insert in the goodie-bag. We love conference swag and were really excited about our conference tote and the info stuffed inside. For the most part it was really helpful and loaded with great pamphlets and a nice snack pack. However, it also contained a DVD of the first season of the MTV Series “16 and Pregnant.” Bah-scuse me? I have heard about this show and purposeful avoided it. I scanned wiki for the episode guide, and only one of the six episodes involves an adoption plan, and from what I understand, an adoption plan that didn’t go well. Way to ease us prospective adoptive parents into the world. Awkward...

More to come, promise. Like I said, there were some very tender, real moments that we identified with underneath the hoopla and formality of this whole adopted life we find ourselves in. Most importantly, we were motivated enough to make an appointment with our adoption counselor to talk to her about some of the “things” we are going through, a lot based on ideas that were affirmed at the conference. This process is scary and beyond the comfort-level that you ever thought you could handle. Hope our counselor is ready for a core dump!!