The home visit was on Dec 1, and the only thing we had to change on our profile was that we needed more captions for our photos. I woke up at 5:30 am on Friday and immediately went to the computer to add more captions, and it ended up taking over six hours to finish it. How can I explain that? I don’t really know. All I can say is that we have an obsessive need for perfection on this profile and I used a complicated program on my MAC for photos to make them pretty and “tilt” like it was a scrap book.
Around noon I went to the office supply store to buy new sheet holders to replace the wrong ones I bought a couple of weeks ago. Then, I went to Kinko’s to make the six copies. The catch was that they needed to be printed on the decorative letterhead that I bought from the office supply store. I asked the woman at the counter to help me, and that ended up taking 20 minutes to determine that she didn’t know how to load the paper in correctly. So, we took it to the back and they put the order in behind the counter. At this point, the clock is at 1:30. The agency closes at 4:30.
I finally get all the copies made and paid for and get back home. I get everything organized and on the floor to put together the six profile booklets, when I open up my second box of sheet protectors, only to find out that these weren’t going to work either. The first ones were too small for my booklet. The second ones were not clear plastic, they were cheap and thick plastic that you could barely see through. Back to the office supply store. The clock is at 2:30. The agency is a 30 minute drive from my house.
This time, I wasn’t taking any chances. I bought the last option of sheet protectors at the store, and then went down to the Kinko’s and bought their version of sheet protectors. That’s right, four different kinds of sheet protectors have been bought for this profile. At the Kinko’s store, the lady who helped me before rang me up at the register. She gave me the up-sell and said that they could have bound this together like a book. I told her that I had to be able to change out sheets in case changes needed to be made, but thank you anyway. She then looked at me kind of funny, and then looked like she was remembering what she was printing for me earlier, and then she said THIS: “I think I know what you are doing. We do a lot of these for people around here.” Then she gave me a little smile that made me feel like she was rooting for me. Heart melting. Adoption is everywhere.
Book it back home and scramble to get the profile booklets together. Turns out the sheet protectors from Kinko’s were the ones I needed. Take that OCD haters! I’ve got everything together and stuffing profiles, when I realize that DH did not hand sign his six copies of the birth letter. So, I had to trace his original signature onto the letters because he was out meeting with a client. But, booklets done. Clock is at 3:55pm.
Off to the agency. So far so good with traffic, but what happens. My gas light goes off. You’re thinking that can’t be true. But it is. I have the worst habit of waiting until empty to fill up on gas because I hate pumping gas. I also hate grocery shopping and unloading the dishwasher. I will do whatever I can to get out of those tasks. But, I also know that I can make it to the agency on what gas is left. No worries. But, I take the wrong turn off the interstate, and realize I don’t know what to do or how to get back. And now, the rush hour traffic has hit. I frantically call the agency to get directions, trying to sound calm, and they walk me through. I pull into the parking lot of the agency at 4:20 pm.
As I am running through the parking lot, DH calls me, yelling. Long story short, I had lost my keys the other week and hadn’t got new ones made. Another chore, you get the point. So, for three days we were “sharing” keys. I had locked the door and didn’t leave the key behind so he was locked out. I started screaming back that I was at the agency trying to drop of our profiles before they closed. Didn’t care. I need to hurry up and get home cause he was locked out. So, I just hung up on him. Went through the front doors and asked for our counselor. She had already left.
I had come too far. This was happening today dammit. For once I was going to complete/do something about creating a family on my schedule! I just sweetly said that I knew where her office was and I could just slip the package on to her desk. Fortunately, the adoption director walked around the corner and saw me and said “what are you doing here?” Really, what do you think? I am using your service for adoption so what does your gut tell you I am doing here? “Just dropping of our profiles.” “Oh,” she says, “she is not here. But you know what? I’ll go run them back right now.” Yes! Clock is at 4:28 pm. I did it!!
On my way home I stopped to get gas and then drove up to house. It was dark by now and DH was sitting on the front porch swing. We both just looked at each other and were so happy! Once we got inside I went to the fridge to get a glass of wine, but he kept telling me to wait. Turns out, he had planned to do something but because I hadn’t left the keys for him to get back in, he had to ad-lib. That is a reoccurring theme in our marriage...
I’m sitting on the couch waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. He comes into the living room with one of my OLD pregnancy tests that is now collecting cobwebs, and in marker wrote on it “Paper Pregnant” and drew a little plus sign. It was so sweet, and something I hadn’t even thought about. He also bought champagne so we got to drink champagne and toast to our paper pregnancy.
We also called our parents and told them. It was so great, because I never thought it would be like this. I always imagined telling my mom I was pregnant on her birthday or christmas or mother’s day, and I was going to buy her little baby booties and wrap them up. And I never thought that I would get to celebrate my pregnancy by drinking a bottle of alcohol with my husband. Or that when my husband’s parents were told, that I would be the one on the phone doing the telling because he was too nervous that they wouldn’t be excited. But it was great, because my mother-n-law asked, “what happens next?” And I told her, “we just wait.” And she said, “well, honey, we will just wait with you.”
And now, I am paper pregnant. And my baby has started growing in my heart instead of my tummy.
I finally get all the copies made and paid for and get back home. I get everything organized and on the floor to put together the six profile booklets, when I open up my second box of sheet protectors, only to find out that these weren’t going to work either. The first ones were too small for my booklet. The second ones were not clear plastic, they were cheap and thick plastic that you could barely see through. Back to the office supply store. The clock is at 2:30. The agency is a 30 minute drive from my house.
This time, I wasn’t taking any chances. I bought the last option of sheet protectors at the store, and then went down to the Kinko’s and bought their version of sheet protectors. That’s right, four different kinds of sheet protectors have been bought for this profile. At the Kinko’s store, the lady who helped me before rang me up at the register. She gave me the up-sell and said that they could have bound this together like a book. I told her that I had to be able to change out sheets in case changes needed to be made, but thank you anyway. She then looked at me kind of funny, and then looked like she was remembering what she was printing for me earlier, and then she said THIS: “I think I know what you are doing. We do a lot of these for people around here.” Then she gave me a little smile that made me feel like she was rooting for me. Heart melting. Adoption is everywhere.
Book it back home and scramble to get the profile booklets together. Turns out the sheet protectors from Kinko’s were the ones I needed. Take that OCD haters! I’ve got everything together and stuffing profiles, when I realize that DH did not hand sign his six copies of the birth letter. So, I had to trace his original signature onto the letters because he was out meeting with a client. But, booklets done. Clock is at 3:55pm.
Off to the agency. So far so good with traffic, but what happens. My gas light goes off. You’re thinking that can’t be true. But it is. I have the worst habit of waiting until empty to fill up on gas because I hate pumping gas. I also hate grocery shopping and unloading the dishwasher. I will do whatever I can to get out of those tasks. But, I also know that I can make it to the agency on what gas is left. No worries. But, I take the wrong turn off the interstate, and realize I don’t know what to do or how to get back. And now, the rush hour traffic has hit. I frantically call the agency to get directions, trying to sound calm, and they walk me through. I pull into the parking lot of the agency at 4:20 pm.
As I am running through the parking lot, DH calls me, yelling. Long story short, I had lost my keys the other week and hadn’t got new ones made. Another chore, you get the point. So, for three days we were “sharing” keys. I had locked the door and didn’t leave the key behind so he was locked out. I started screaming back that I was at the agency trying to drop of our profiles before they closed. Didn’t care. I need to hurry up and get home cause he was locked out. So, I just hung up on him. Went through the front doors and asked for our counselor. She had already left.
I had come too far. This was happening today dammit. For once I was going to complete/do something about creating a family on my schedule! I just sweetly said that I knew where her office was and I could just slip the package on to her desk. Fortunately, the adoption director walked around the corner and saw me and said “what are you doing here?” Really, what do you think? I am using your service for adoption so what does your gut tell you I am doing here? “Just dropping of our profiles.” “Oh,” she says, “she is not here. But you know what? I’ll go run them back right now.” Yes! Clock is at 4:28 pm. I did it!!
On my way home I stopped to get gas and then drove up to house. It was dark by now and DH was sitting on the front porch swing. We both just looked at each other and were so happy! Once we got inside I went to the fridge to get a glass of wine, but he kept telling me to wait. Turns out, he had planned to do something but because I hadn’t left the keys for him to get back in, he had to ad-lib. That is a reoccurring theme in our marriage...
I’m sitting on the couch waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. He comes into the living room with one of my OLD pregnancy tests that is now collecting cobwebs, and in marker wrote on it “Paper Pregnant” and drew a little plus sign. It was so sweet, and something I hadn’t even thought about. He also bought champagne so we got to drink champagne and toast to our paper pregnancy.
We also called our parents and told them. It was so great, because I never thought it would be like this. I always imagined telling my mom I was pregnant on her birthday or christmas or mother’s day, and I was going to buy her little baby booties and wrap them up. And I never thought that I would get to celebrate my pregnancy by drinking a bottle of alcohol with my husband. Or that when my husband’s parents were told, that I would be the one on the phone doing the telling because he was too nervous that they wouldn’t be excited. But it was great, because my mother-n-law asked, “what happens next?” And I told her, “we just wait.” And she said, “well, honey, we will just wait with you.”
And now, I am paper pregnant. And my baby has started growing in my heart instead of my tummy.
Congratulations! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
ReplyDeleteYay! I love your last paragraph. Beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteWhat a day! Congratulations!
ReplyDelete