On the humorous front:

Sam was writing a thank you card to his PE (gym)  teacher, and concentrating very hard on his words;

Dear Mr. L, Thanks for teaching me PE. Love Sam

When he read it out loud-upon successful completion-his brother says; Sam why did he need to teach you how to pee? You already knew how to do that!

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On the way to Sam’s  closing ceremony (read: trophy hand out in less that five minutes. Which will be the shortest awards ceremony we will ever get to attend) Marcel hollers to the car next to us; “Oh YEAH we are rockin’ it now!” If we had a car radio, that might be understandable. He was just feeling the moment…

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In the big feelings department:

I am approaching overload.  Sam’s kindergarten “graduation” is tomorrow. The thought of saying goodbye to his amazing teacher, and all the ways in which she masterfully guided us both  through the most successful first year possible, would requires pages to do justice to. As a single mama, I wonder if the the time her and I spent together in informal end of day chats, conferences, or emails doesn’t take on an even deeper layer of  meaning to me, then say one parent in a two parent household.  I wonder this because  in all those exchanges, she sort of completes the family, to borrow a friend’s expression, at that moment.  In a this-is-the -other person-in-the-world-who-cares-as-much-about -my -son’s-well-being (in school and beyond) as-I-do  way. I used to feel that with his pediatrician when Sam was wee, and suffered from asthma. The pediatrician became the insta-other-parent to me. Thoughts on this? Sound familiar?

It is also the end of the school year for teacher me, which comes with loss in the form of many 8th graders that I have worked with for three years, (as a reading and literacy teacher) moving up to high school. I will miss them, and celebrate them too.  The thrill of the summer only days away is at bay, only because teaching is so reflective to me. I’m very much in my “what will I do differently/better” mode at the moment. But of course the excitement looms too.

On the Open Adoption visit update:

Drum roll please: A decision two nights ago to take a huge leap into the unknown with the purchase of three round trip tickets to the West Coast to visit Sam’s first family in August. I have so much to share about this. Just the how we (Sam, Tea, and myself) all got to the point to say, YES, and YES this summer merits a post. How I am feeling about it, how I need to prep myself and the family merits many more. I’ll be seeking all sorts of experiential reflection here from first families, siblings, adoptees, and adoptive parents. This is a huge moment, and one that I plan overall to take this approach to: whatever it will be, will be just right. 

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Now if this post doesn’t send you to the voting booth for the 3rd to last day of voting what will? Thank you for joining Mama C on all layers of the journey. I’ve been so excited to share this all with you.