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.