Open Adoption Blog

First Contact—isn’t that the name of that movie where Jodie Foster talks to aliens? Oh, wait, that’s just Contact. But finally getting a call from an expectant mother—after months of silence and one unconvincing scam—did feel a little like someone was reaching out to us from another world.

I’ve been working hard at that “networking” stuff the IAC advises hopeful adoptive parents to do. I’ve been keeping our Facebook page up to date with photos and posts that show WHAT A HAPPY, LOVING, READY-FOR-A-BABY COUPLE WE ARE! I’ve been blogging here and on our adoption website. And, like many things on the internet, it can feel kind of like a black hole. (See how I’m working that space metaphor?) It’s like homework for a moderately fun class, which bares minimal relation to Cecilia’s and my desire to parent an actual baby.

That desire is deep and real and personal, and it lives on a planet of its own.

So imagine my surprise when a number I didn’t recognize popped up on my cell phone and for once it wasn’t  a wrong number or the recorded voice of Congressman Javier Becerra or the woman from Carnival Cruise Lines asking if we’d planned our next vacation.

A crazy five days ensued. I won’t go into the details, because the woman who called us is real—so amazingly, fantastically real—and she and her husband are still out there living their lives and making plans for their baby. But I will say this: We talked to them on the phone. We Skyped with them for an hour. They saw one of our cats and we saw their dog. Paws were waved. Continue reading »