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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Knowing that the birth mother in Austin was looking to make a decision quickly, Christy convinced me to work from home today. I had a meeting-free day except
for a 1:00 tele-conference.
At 1:00, I sat in the office on the telephone. Around 1:30, it started to rain...and thunder...and lightning...and turn purple outside. Christy wandered in to check her e-mail. Seconds later, I heard a shriek and excited squealing and she started grabbing me. Meanwhile, the lights in the house were dimming and surging as though Frankenstein's monster was being brought to life in the living room. Just outside the front door, small children were blowing like tumbleweed down the street. The teleconference was winding up, which was a good thing because the serene home-office environment had been compromised on many levels. As we would come to find out, this was the beginning of one of the strangest weather days in Northern Virginia that I can remember. Small tornadoes and violent thunderstorms were sweeping across the area, knocking down trees and dumping massive amounts of rain on everything. As neighbors were grabbing their children and taking safe harbor in their basements, Christy and I were working up into a frenzy as Nicholas napped peacefully in his storm-exposed second floor bedroom. The reason for the excitment was a 2:10 PM e-mail from Gladney stating that the birth mother in Austin had chosen us as her favorite family. Her case worker had then informed her that she had worked with us before and knew us. The stars seemed to be aligning.... As fate would have it, Christy was scheduled that evening to attend a Gladney Family Association (GFA) meeting that very evening. She was to meet with fellow Gladney super-moms Stacy, Jane, and Holly at Jane's place in Oakton. What a perfect venue for Christy to share her news! Christy's screaming and heavy rain woke Nicholas from his nap, and we heard the call of 'Mooooommmmaaaayyyyy' from upstairs. Even though he is completely capable of getting out of his bed and coming downstairs, he prefers to summon us to come get him. We informed him that he was going to have a baby brother and a baby sister...to which he smiled and repeated the information back to us. We tried to keep our excitement contained, but as we were notifying our parents...the excitement just took over. The three of us decided to drive over to my parents' house in Vienna. We could celebrate together for a while, and then I would celebrate with them further over a fattening dinner while Christy went to her meeting in Oakton. As we were leaving the neighborhood, we noticed that strong winds had blown down trees all over the place. As we neared Vienna, traffic got worse and worse. Every traffic light in Vienna was completely out and, since Northern Virginians do not understand the concept of taking turns, marshal law ensued. Marhal law in Northern Virginia can be summed up in two words: 'me first'. As a result, all routes in to Vienna were completely clogged with angry, selfish drivers. It ended up taking an hour and a half to get to my parents house. When we did arrive, we saw that a massive tree had fallen on to thier neighbor's house. Along with the massive tree, four slightly less massive trees had also come down. My parents had just returned home from helping clean up a bit when we arrived. My mother was still in her 'lawn-mowing outfit'. By this time, Christy had to be getting to her meeting. Not wanting her to drive down the twisted back roads of Vienna and Oakton to Jane's house alone, my mother and I decided to escort her over while my dad stayed and entertained Nicholas. When we arrived at Jane's house, I insisted on inviting myself in for a second while Christy broke the big news. Hugs, tears, and champagne followed. My poor mother, who was hiding out in the car because of aforementioned 'lawn-mowing outfit', was dragged out of the car to participate. This was beginning to feel very real.... |
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