On our
way home ... Part Two
Five
Years Ago Today ... an Abby’s Road
anniversary
October
9, 2009. John Lennon’s birthday. I hoped that would be a good omen ...
When
we last left our adventurers, we waited for one of the most
bureaucratically-ensnarled states of the union to approve the interstate
compact so we could go home. It was the Friday before a three-day weekend. Oy
...
Starting at page 169:
“Illinois is an hour behind New York, so the
offices there would not open until 10:00 a.m. our time. We weren’t expecting
any news from Ronnie until noon. ... I also posted (on Facebook) “(t)hanks
for all the prayers for us getting to go home today. No luck though. Anyone
want to join me for prayers to Wotan? Baal? Any deity that will listen?”
Noon passed. So did 1:00. Then 2:00.
Then 3:00. Esther lay down in bed and cried.
A few minutes later she fell asleep. The baby was fed and she slept as
well. I stayed up and played World of Warcraft and waited for the baby to wake
up.
Soon it was four o’clock our time;
three o’clock in Illinois.
Three o’clock the Friday before a
three-day weekend at a government office. By now people were sneaking between
the partitions and cubicles, jumping through the bathroom windows and pushing
their cars out of the parking lots. Once
out of earshot they’ll start the engine and get the hell out of there. The
smart ones took that Friday off months before – those left were the bitter
employees who were too late to get their vacation requests approved in time.
Ties are loosened; wine and beer
bottles are opened. The radio plays. “Two more hours and we’re outta here,”
someone shouts from across the room. Is someone smoking? That’s doesn’t smell
like tobacco…
I took my frustrations out on my
fellow WOW gamers. When I had finished at four o’clock I started a Facebook
post; I took my previous post to its inevitable conclusion:
“Oh Mighty Baal, please
strike dead those who decided we should not be allowed to go home this weekend
and curse their spawn to the third generation.”
I
was ready to hit “Send” when Esther's
cell phone rang. She woke up and said hello in a groggy voice.
It was Ronnie.
We were approved to take the baby
home.
I told Esther to shut off the phone
in case he calls back and said it was a mistake. We would crinkle some foil in
front of the phone. “Sorry, bad signal – we’re already in Pennsylvania – what?
What?”
I
could not have made the timing up. If I wrote it as part of a story the
editors, critics and the reading masses would tear it to pieces. “What kind of
melodramatic shit is this?”
I
added to my Facebook post: “ - hold on!
As I type this we got our call! We're going home!!! Jesus came through at the
last minute! Hurrah for Jesus (but you cut it pretty close there, Godboy! Watch
it!!)!!”
Esther was a little more pleasant.
She always is… “Praise God!!! We are cleared to take Abigail home. Thanks for
all the good thoughts and prayers. We’ll be offline a couple of days. Facebook
by cell phone for now. Please ignore Mike’s post.”
Harrumph!
***
“Abby’s
Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman
and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility
treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle)
humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding
wife.
Join
Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an
adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare
their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a
thousand miles from home.
Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532
Copyright
2014 Michael Curry
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