Watching an adoption
Jul. 26th, 2006 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantI didn't realize I'd forgotten to post this! This is an observation from about a year ago, of a thing that happened in my coffee shop while my headphones rendered me invisible in the corner.
A young pregnant woman -- long red hair, white retro-fifties sleeveless dress -- comes in with an older woman. Then a 30ish couple come in through a different door. Gingerly hugs all around. When the pregnant woman is giving ultrasound photos to the couple, I realize it's an adoption in progress.
The guy says, "We're sorry, but she's going to be a cheesehead." They've driven all the way from Wisconsin for this meeting. It's four hours to Wisconsin.
After a bit, the older woman's phone rings and she comes over by me to take the call, and I realize she's a lawyer. The call apparently comes from a client who's worried about someone contesting their adoption due to an interstate law of some sort.
The pregnant woman talks like a reasonably educated person, and she's at least in her late twenties -- I had pictured woman who gave up babies for adoption as being younger and, I suppose, with fewer options.
The thing that cued me in that this wasn't just a pregnant woman having lunch with some people she knew was this: You know how people have one way of talking about someone else's baby (with lots of praise) and a different way of talking about their own (with more modesty)? They all were using the "someone else's baby" tone. So when the adopting dad said, "Well, I'm sure she'll be beautiful," the pregnant woman didn't say, "Thank you," or, "I hope so" -- she said, "Oh, she will."
I guess that child would be learning to walk right about now. I hope they're all OK.
A young pregnant woman -- long red hair, white retro-fifties sleeveless dress -- comes in with an older woman. Then a 30ish couple come in through a different door. Gingerly hugs all around. When the pregnant woman is giving ultrasound photos to the couple, I realize it's an adoption in progress.
The guy says, "We're sorry, but she's going to be a cheesehead." They've driven all the way from Wisconsin for this meeting. It's four hours to Wisconsin.
After a bit, the older woman's phone rings and she comes over by me to take the call, and I realize she's a lawyer. The call apparently comes from a client who's worried about someone contesting their adoption due to an interstate law of some sort.
The pregnant woman talks like a reasonably educated person, and she's at least in her late twenties -- I had pictured woman who gave up babies for adoption as being younger and, I suppose, with fewer options.
The thing that cued me in that this wasn't just a pregnant woman having lunch with some people she knew was this: You know how people have one way of talking about someone else's baby (with lots of praise) and a different way of talking about their own (with more modesty)? They all were using the "someone else's baby" tone. So when the adopting dad said, "Well, I'm sure she'll be beautiful," the pregnant woman didn't say, "Thank you," or, "I hope so" -- she said, "Oh, she will."
I guess that child would be learning to walk right about now. I hope they're all OK.