Tuesday, January 26, 2016

A Good Surprise Relived

       I have been working very slowly to digitalize some of my photos. Along the way I am discarding poor photos and renewing memories of events many years ago.

    Yesterday I did photos of the first two years of my son's life.

       My son was adopted in 1969 and it was definitely a memorable experience. The whole experience was brought back by working with the photos.

      The adoption procedure at that time was handled by the government. We filled out a long detailed form. We had an interview and home inspection. We got references. Then we had to wait and see if our application was accepted. The Micro manager wanted to buy baby clothes, furniture etc. I persuaded her not to buy anything just in case our application was refused.The procedure was finished by early November. The micro manager asked precisely how long things would take. We were told that we would receive notification of our acceptance in about two months. After our acceptance it could be months or a year before there would be a placement. Fine.

     On Dec. 21 at 2:00 Pm my wife received a phone call telling us we had been accepted. Naturally she was excited. Fifteen minutes later at 2:15 PM she received a phone call asking us to travel 100 miles the next day to pick up a baby!!! By the time I got home the Micro manager was really hyper! Remember now that she had no baby materials whatsoever. Remember who was the cause of making no purchases for a new baby. My wife was able to persuade them to give her two extra days. She resigned her temporary nursing position and then shopped non stop for the next two days. All the necessities were purchased.

      Now this is a very exciting event. A major change was about to happen in our lives. Normally people have nine months to get their head around a new person in the family.

     At the agency we received about an hour's information. We were asked if we wanted to see this baby. The baby was brought in and we were left alone to make a decision if we wanted this child. After 15 min. they came back and asked us if we were sure that we wanted this child.

     One look at him and he was ours. So on Dec. 23 we were out of there with a brand new son. It was very exciting day. I think it was a scary day for him as he'd been taken from the foster home in the morning and was probably kept in some back office until we saw him in the afternoon.

    Now we had decided to stay home for Christmas as my wife had booked shifts over the Christmas holidays. We decided in a hurry to go to my parents for Christmas. We also decided not to tell them we were coming. We arrived late Christmas Eve. It was  a big surprise for them to find us   on their doorstep late Christmas Eve.. It was a bigger surprise for them when they found out they had a new grandson.

 Since were totally unprepared for this event we did not have a name picked out. We didn't know if we were getting a boy or a girl. We wanted to name him before we got to Dad's place where Dad would put in his suggestions and we didn't want to be in a position to where we might offend Dad by not taking his suggestion.. The naming took place on the 500 mile trip.

    So there were a series of eventful surprises in a few short days. Checking out the photos brought back the memories of a most important event in my life.

     I will never forget this and it will be the best surprise I ever had in my life.




40 comments:

  1. How sweet :) Loved reading this, brought back memories of our 2 adopted children. Our daughter, we had about a 2 hour notice, first child, we had nothing. We quickly got a car seat so we could get her from the agency and then bought the necessities needed as quickly as we could. Hubby learned the lesson of assembling the crib in the wrong room. He assembled it in the living room and it wouldn't fit into the bedroom. Our son, 3.5 years later, we had about 10 hours notice. Luckily we had kept some of the things like the crib, etc, but I quit my part time job that day and we again went out to buy the necessities. Such a joy and happy times!

    betty

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    1. Adoptions are pretty exciting. Good story about the crib.

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  2. Oh my goodness, what a wonderful story. I can't begin to imagine how you felt. Obviously your heart was full to overflowing and continues to be. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. There were all kinds of things running around in your head as you had no control at all.

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  3. Sonice photoes of you and your family and a great story!!

    It must be wonderful to have a child after years of waiting.God bless this was a great gift to you!i see he is treated well all this years.

    Wish you and family a great day up there in Canada.

    Thanx for sharing!


    Anita

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    1. It was great to be able to live that story.

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  4. What a nice story! It must have been a very exciting time.

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    1. It was an exciting story and we were very naive as well.

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  5. What an absolutely touching story. What a wonderful surprise you had that year for Christmas. It is lovely to see you with your son and hear about all the work you are doing to live a pictorial legacy for him.

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    1. I should have done the photos a long time ago.

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  6. That's a special story Red. Such a brave decision for you two to make, and such a right one for all three of you. He's a giant! The adoption laws over here appear to be really quite unworkable.

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    1. IT'S ONE OF THOSE SITUATIONS WHERE YOU DON'T HAVE A LOT OF CONTROL. i WOULDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO PICK THE GUY UP THESE DAYS!!!

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  7. What a sweet story and what a hectic time to get ready for it in such a short time!

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    1. It was such a surprise and it made you do a lot of work in a short time. It only took a couple of days and it seemed like we'd had him forever.

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  8. Okay, this is best story I've read in a long time. How sweet! How excited and happy you both must have been.

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    1. Thanks. We were excited but doubly so because it was a complete surprise.

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  9. Very nice share Red. Many of us can attest to the best time in our lives as being parents. I still feel that way myself.

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  10. indeed, so special. and a fine son you have!

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  11. What a beautiful post! Thanks for sharing this special time with all of us. I really enjoyed reading it. I can only imagine how exciting a time this was. And right before Christmas, too!

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    1. Thanks. I really wrote this for him and he has really appreciated it as he said he'd forgotten most of it.

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  12. That is so wonderful! I was adopted in 1957. It was a 2-year process. I recall mom telling me she was at work, dad worked there too, and stood up in their open-concept building to yell, "We have a baby!" I was 6 months old and they called me Cookie at the foster home. They didn't have a car, so the social worker drove them. It was downtown Toronto.

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    1. Yes, we expected to wait about a year or more. My kids were both named by their mothers. My son hated the name he was given and was glad we changed it. He was in a very good foster home as they were able to tell his his allergies and they had already bought him a Christmas present and it was the only present he got on his first Christmas. He was six weeks old when we got him.

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  13. A very good story!

    My parents adopted five children in all- then relatively late in the swing of things, I came along and then my younger brother.

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    1. Your story is amazing! So seven kids in all!

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  14. What a special time in your lives. I can only imagine how upset your wife was when she had nothing ready.
    What a little cutie your son was with those curls:)

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    1. She didn't stay upset long as she had to get things in a hurry. Yes he had very curly hair.

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  15. Thanks for sharing this wonderful memory with us. Your son looks like a great guy.

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    1. He's a character...great sense of humor!

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  16. How magical that you and your wife received such a wonderful Christmas gift all those years ago. And he also received a wonderful gift - a secure home with parents who would love him and stand by him come what may. Thanks for sharing this lovely story Red.

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    1. Magical is a good choice of words. It was a great experience. I'm one of those people who miss my kids. they both live far away.

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  17. Great story, Red! Thanks for sharing it.
    I think my husband could refer to me as a micromanager too. :-)

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  18. I just loved this story. What a great adventure the three of you had. I'm so glad it all turned out so well. That last picture just makes me smile. :-)

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  19. I have to admit that a quiet tear managed to escape. What a delightful and happy story.

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  20. What a wonderful adoption story! We adopted two children also but we had much more notice. Our surprise was that one turned into two as a second child from the same family became available in the process of adopting the first one. How could we say no? L

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  21. Oh Red! I got so excited and teary just reading this post. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I could just picture you and your wonderful micro manager seeing your son for the first time. And I LOVE that last photo of you all together. Sigh...

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  22. Hi Red, Another neat story! Well, I read the one about your daughter first, so it's nice to know the rest of the story, even tho I'm reading your posts from newest to older. Ha ha. These are the kind of stories that make me appreciate Hiawatha House! Thanks for sharing.

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  23. Oh wow.. what a great Christmas that was for your family. I absolutely love this story.

    I have a relative who had about 3 hours' notice to get everything together before she and her husband became parents. And their child was not adopted. She had no idea that she was even pregnant until she was in labour.

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  24. Wow, this is such a heart touching story and what a rush to prepare for a new baby but it this without a doubt was meant to be. Thank you for sharing this with us Red, you've touched my heart once again!

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