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Thursday, June 5, 2008
Christy's mom (Karen) took the day off and came over early in the morning. With excitement in their step and spending on their mind -- Christy, Karen, and
Nicholas set out...shopping for twin gear. I also had (their) spending on my mind. So I headed to work.
At work, I had every intention of not telling anyone until things were final. But as the morning went on, I found it impossible to keep to myself. Soon, I was telling everyone. From credit card records, it is evident that Christy and Karen were having similar troubles controlling themselves. But what is an adoption story without drama? At 10:30 AM, I received a note from Gladney that things were progressing well, except that there was a mild twist. There was ANOTHER family being strongly considered....decision expected tonight. So now I was faced two options (laid out in decision tables below): Option #1 - Tell Christy right away
Option #2 - Let her have a good day first, then tell her later
Option #3 - Pretend not to have seen it, and let her read the e-mail herself when she gets home
For any husbands out there, the choice was an easy one. I went with Option #1. The shopping ended quicker than expected, and the excruciating wait began immediately. Christy immediately called Sara from Gladney and got the scoop. We were the odds on favorite to win, but their was another horse on the track. We just hoped it was the Belmont Stakes 'Big Brown' and not the Preakness 'Big Brown'. Christy began stalking the on-line Gladney profiles to figure out who our competition was. I was well aware of the futility/uselessness of this activity, but it was passing time for her and it seemed to make her happy when I would agree, "Yes..it must be them...look at them...they are pure evil..are those 6's on his forehead?". Later on, Christy called Sara (our patient Gladney case worker) and found out that the birth parents were not even scheduled to begin their final selection process until 5:00 PM (Texas time). Karen had hung around and played with Nicholas and claimed to be exhausted and wanted to go home. But I noted that she still had the energy to stand on two legs and that she needed to hang out with Nicholas a while longer so I could take Christy out for dinner. Where logic and reasoning cannot comfort...food can. We had a nice quiet meal where I tried to explain that 50% was still a very good chance and that dwelling on the outcome would not change it. That went over well. So I stopped talking and we both just kind of sat there eating. We got home, disposed of Karen, and then I bathed Nicholas, read him stories, and put him to bed. Christy was still downstairs examining on-line profiles. At 10:00 we called our case worker one last time and she told us that the decision had not yet been made...the birth mother was really torn between us and the other couple. I had a beer at this point. Shortly after hanging up with Sara, Christy asked me to call her back and tell her that if, for some reason, the decision was made late at night, she could send a text message to my cell phone. Sara passed that along to Kathy (the birth mother's case worker) and we went to bed with my cell phone on the night stand. Amazingly, we both fell asleep. At 12:33 AM, the buzzing of the cell phone woke me up. A text message arrived that said "Congratulations! They have chosen you!". I woke Christy up (or so I thought) and told her the news. She said "Oh good" and went back to sleep. At 5:00 AM, she sat straight up in bed and woke me up. 'Did I have a dream, or did you tell me that they picked us?'. I informed her of the news and she was crying. |
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