Not Ha Ha Funny, but Funny

Funny that I wrote my last post about attitude and right now I have a stinky one. Not exactly sure why — mix of emotions perhaps.

On the great side, thanks to blog connections, I recently met a mom-to-be from Brooklyn who happens to be from Romania. This feels sort of full circle for me as my first blog entry talks about my roots in Romania and my grandparents’ impetus on my adoption thoughts … perhaps another sign that this is where we should be heading! And she happens to be a lovely woman and hopefully friend. She just received her letter of invitation (LOI) today and will be traveling in just a few days to meet her daughter in Kazakhstan. This makes me excited to be able to follow her journey in real time, something I have not yet had the pleasure of doing.

I still cry my eyes out when watching YouTube videos. The other day I saw one and there was a photo of the homecoming team — a motley crew of family members with arms filled with gifts and balloons, faces full of smiles, as they greeted their newest family member off the plane. Makes me sad because if I don’t start talking soon, then this kind of reception might not be part of my world. Well, I think it will ultimately but it’s going to take time, and that’s okay.

I have had many friends give birth and I have given birth myself. I think birth is miraculous. And yet, the adventure of getting on a plane and going halfway around the world to meet a child who will be yours forever seems to be the most miraculous of all these days. As a bystander who is contemplating taking this journey, it is a unique feeling to see people go before you and know that one day, perhaps I too, will be shouting from the rooftops “We received our LOI! We received our LOI!” and days later our plane will lift off as our journey to 5 begins in earnest.

So, this evening we went to the wake of a dear friend of my family who lived to be 95 years old. She was an unbelievably loved woman by all who knew her. I hope to be so lucky one day to have a memorial literally filled with laughter, with joy and memories upon memories shared. It was really remarkable, barely a tear shed, just joy for the loving life she lived.

On other news, at the wake, another neighbor came up to me and said “Oh, you’re pregnant!” Sadly, I was not shocked by this exclamation because, if you can believe, this is about the 6th time in 12 months that someone has verbalized this to me. Let me not even attempt to think about all the people who might have thought it but never said it to me. “Oy vey!” is all I gotta say! If this has not just been the last straw to get me on an exercise regime tomorrow morning then I don’t know what is. That, and remind me to never wear an A-line shirt again.

In other news, spoke to Gary tonight about moving forward with application (I think the good news of so many people in my blog world is giving me the itch to get crackin’) and he wants to wait a bit until he feels really ready in his heart. I gotta give him that. I do think we’re going to do this, but I have said before, if it is to be at all, it is to come from both of us with loving and open hearts.

Well, I do feel better after writing a bit as always. On an interesting note, at the wake today, there were flowers sent to my old friend, the grandson of the woman who passed away. They were for his family and were written with “warm regards from the Cruise family.” What other Cruise family do you know aside from Tom, Katie and Suri? Yup, he’s friends with them! Just a cool piece of gossip to share into the blogosphere.