They Chose Us

By virtue of caller ID, I knew it was my wife calling. “They chose us,” she said as I answered. My first thought – great, did she apply for some grant or something at work that she’s told me about twenty times that I’ve completely forgotten about and now I’m going to come off sounding like a jackass for not knowing what she’s talking about, again. “The family in Florida, they chose us!”

And that’s how I learned that I am actually going to become a father.

The details in brief: a young couple in Florida, who I’m going to give the aliases Sam and Diane (“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got”), already with healthy children of their own, are expecting in early June. For their own reasons, they have made an adoption plan for this child and have chosen us as the parents.

As I’ve said before, this will be an open adoption, which is very important to Sam and Diane and to us. The idea that our child will instantaneously have four nieces and multiple siblings is very appealing.

My reaction has been mostly to just stare at my wife with the simultaneous thoughts of “now what?" and “there’s so much to do.” The last few days have been a rush to get the word out, interspersed with periods of stunned silence.

There are many steps to come. On the immediate horizon is reviewing the contract and getting ourselves to Florida to meet with the attorney, Sam, and Diane. And maybe panicking just a little bit.