Reactions

Naturally, as adopting a child means embarking on an entirely new adventure, we've had to tell people about it. It would be shocking and awkward if we suddenly started making appearances with an African baby, especially to the people we know very well. So there's no way to work around not breaking the news in some way, shape or form.

We've had, accumulated, such a wide range of reactions that if I wrote a book about it, it would be a novel. Each time we manage to convey the news, we aren't able to predict exactly how they'll respond. We've encountered indifference, mild surprise, extreme surprise, confusion, warm congratulation, and bouncing-off-the-walls excitement. My friends from Massachusetts have known all along, since the second my mom filed for an application, what was going on and have overall been extremely supportive, and I'm grateful for that. But I had yet to tell my new friends in Connecticut, and since I don't know them as well (yet) I wasn't sure what they would think.

Well, between classes today when we were in a cluster by our lockers, I told my closest friend the news while holding my breath. A second later, I could see that I had no need to worry. She was completely thrilled and gave me a big hug, saying congratulations and barraging me with questions. Soon, everyone else was in on it too, and they were equally ebuillient. However, the best thing I heard someone say was, "I've ALWAYS wished my family would do that." My other friends have said similar things- almost all of them say either, "I'm definetely adopting a kid when I grow up," or "I'm going to convince my parents to do the same thing!" I hope that after they see how happy my family is going to be with my baby sibling, it'll give them the extra push to firmly resolve themselves to adopting someday. It truly is a beautiful thing, and I wish everyone could see it, but even if they don't now, I hope they do when LG (Little Guy, as we call him here) becomes an important member of our family.