Just a quick vent. Yesterday, I had lunch with a perfectly nice woman who has a similar job as me in another county. We were chatting about our lives and she mentions that she has 2 boys who have ADHD.
Then she gives me a knowing look and says, "Well, you know, I adopted them."
Really? Because you couldn't possibly have given birth to children who had any issues? It's as though she was citing their being adopted as the reason they had ADHD. People who know nothing about adoption assume that adopted children have problems that biological children wouldn't have. What really irks me is when adoptive parents perpetuate that.
And I wonder, if I adopted a child, would I do that? Would I explain away any issues or problems my child had as being because he was genetically related to someone else? Would I want to make sure people knew it wasn't a reflection on me and my genes? I'd like to think I wouldn't. But is it something that people do without even realizing what they are doing? Is our desire to let the world know that there's nothing wrong with US that great? I don't know. But it irritates me.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Lookin' Up
I've been working on a post about my feelings about adoption for the past month. I just can't seem to get my thoughts together in some coherent way. I'll keep working on it - I promise.
In the meantime, I thought it was worth posting that MICHAEL GOT A JOB!!! And not just any job. He actually got 2 great job offers in the span of a few days. Ironically, they came right after the election - so he was unemployed for exactly a year. We had to choose between a steady mid-level job on the Hill - which was exactly what he was looking for all this time - and running the re-election campaign for a guy in Richmond (about 1.5 hrs away) for the next year. Guess which one we chose? Richmond. Yes, we are crazy. The job in Richmond just has so much more potential. It's the age old risk/reward equation. And Michael was so excited about it. It's great to see the fire back in him. I missed that.
We had a great long weekend with friends down in Nags Head, NC. Some of my friends were running the full and half marathons - and they added an 8K so that I could run too! The 8K was Saturday and the other races were Sunday so it was great to be able to cheer on everyone else. These people were hard core. One girl ran the marathon with bronchitis, another did the 1/2 marathon without training. No wait, she had run 3 miles one time a few months back. Another ran the 8K with a stress fracture. (And won her freakin' age group!) Amazing. So, while I was proud of myself for finishing with a great time for me, I could only get but so puffed up. ;-) The weather was perfect. We ate, drank, laughed and ran ourselves silly. Michael had his last interview on Saturday, so he missed my race, but here's a blurry shot from someone's cell phone. Thanks to my running buddy, Colby - I finished faster than EVER. (Of course, despite my smile, I also thought I would die at the end...)
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Last but definitely not least, I'd like to take a minute to thank everyone who has served in our military. Veteran's Day can seem like just a random day off, but I'm thinking of you all today. You are the reason I have the everyday freedoms to do the things that I do. Thanks for keeping us safe and protecting our ideals.
In the meantime, I thought it was worth posting that MICHAEL GOT A JOB!!! And not just any job. He actually got 2 great job offers in the span of a few days. Ironically, they came right after the election - so he was unemployed for exactly a year. We had to choose between a steady mid-level job on the Hill - which was exactly what he was looking for all this time - and running the re-election campaign for a guy in Richmond (about 1.5 hrs away) for the next year. Guess which one we chose? Richmond. Yes, we are crazy. The job in Richmond just has so much more potential. It's the age old risk/reward equation. And Michael was so excited about it. It's great to see the fire back in him. I missed that.
We had a great long weekend with friends down in Nags Head, NC. Some of my friends were running the full and half marathons - and they added an 8K so that I could run too! The 8K was Saturday and the other races were Sunday so it was great to be able to cheer on everyone else. These people were hard core. One girl ran the marathon with bronchitis, another did the 1/2 marathon without training. No wait, she had run 3 miles one time a few months back. Another ran the 8K with a stress fracture. (And won her freakin' age group!) Amazing. So, while I was proud of myself for finishing with a great time for me, I could only get but so puffed up. ;-) The weather was perfect. We ate, drank, laughed and ran ourselves silly. Michael had his last interview on Saturday, so he missed my race, but here's a blurry shot from someone's cell phone. Thanks to my running buddy, Colby - I finished faster than EVER. (Of course, despite my smile, I also thought I would die at the end...)
**************************
Last but definitely not least, I'd like to take a minute to thank everyone who has served in our military. Veteran's Day can seem like just a random day off, but I'm thinking of you all today. You are the reason I have the everyday freedoms to do the things that I do. Thanks for keeping us safe and protecting our ideals.
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