Today was our community Halloween party. I invited my Library MommyFriend to come to our house before hand and walk over with us because we live less than a block from where it was held. Afterwards, we returned home and as she was waiting for her Mother to pick her up (as her Husband took her car because he had TWO flat tires this morning), she was looking at my fridge and the pictures displayed on it.
Now, this goes hand in hand with the post I made before about displaying pictures in ones' home. This was my first test, folks.
MommyFriend is looking at the pictures: one of Nicholas in his Steelers jersey (yelling, of course) and one of Munchkin in a beautiful pink shirt looking, of course, beautiful. She turns to me and says, "Who..." and just points back and forth.
I said, "Well, of course, that's Nick. And that's my daughter that I placed for adoption. They'll be out next month for Nick's birthday party." (Which she is invited to and is coming.) She pauses for a few seconds. Josh chimes in with the fact that the Munchkin is hilarious. (She is.) (And thank God for Josh trying to chime in and ease my anxiety. Love that Husband of mine!)
And then this was said:
"So you're adopting her?"
Now, this has never happened before. Granted, I haven't told too many people face to face that I have placed a child for adoption. This is new territory for me and I'm just trying to go with the flow. But even when I tell the general "untouched by adoption" random person on the internet that I have "placed a child for adoption" it is generally understood that I am not adopting her but that I have placed her.
So, I simply reiterated what I said and then, thankfully, Nicholas threw food at me and the subject was changed.
Josh and I discussed it later. It's kind of comical. And it's kind of not. I mean, sure, if she's not touched by adoption (I have no clue), maybe she didn't understand the lingo. Maybe she was shocked that I am a birthmother and therefore debunk all myths about birthmothers ever written or thought. But, I mean, gah. It was just an uncomfortable moment that I didn't expect to experience. No one tells you to prepare for that on either.
Has this happened to anyone else before? Weird.
Anyway, Josh agrees that I passed my first "pictures are up in our house and people are going to ask questions" test. I am awesome. The end.
