So, one blissful, April, Saturday morning we went to the Broward County Humane Society in Florida. If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting this particular Humane Society, it is one of the fanciest places I have ever been. It's the Biltmore or Taj Mahal for unwanted cats and dogs. The establishment is immaculately clean and doesn't even smell like animals. I wish I could say that the institution where two of my kids spent many of their childhood years was even half as well funded as this place, but I digress....
Back to the Broward County Humane Society, where we found the two cutest kittens alive. How would I ever choose between the two of them? They were two female kittens from the same litter and they were absolutely adorable. I knew that I was already on thin ice, so asking Shad to get BOTH of them, would have been absolutely out of the question. I wasn't going to press my luck.
Now, in order to adopt a pet from the Broward County Humane Society, you need to prove that you are worthy. There was paperwork to be filled out, a waiting period, and then an INTERVIEW before we could even hold the kitten we were interested in. I was certain they were going to see right through Shad and *know* that he was a self-proclaimed "not a pet person". It was a stressful, emotional day! (Go ahead and laugh...at the time, this was stressul stuff!)
Now, in order to adopt a pet from the Broward County Humane Society, you need to prove that you are worthy. There was paperwork to be filled out, a waiting period, and then an INTERVIEW before we could even hold the kitten we were interested in. I was certain they were going to see right through Shad and *know* that he was a self-proclaimed "not a pet person". It was a stressful, emotional day! (Go ahead and laugh...at the time, this was stressul stuff!)
Finally, *the* moment arrived when we could actually meet the kitten that we had inquired about. I guess our references checked out and we passed the intensive interview session enough to give the appearance that we were capable of remembering to feed a cat and change its litter box. We were invited into a special room, where we were going to get to meet our little bundle of joy! For reasons I still don't understand, they brought in BOTH kittens. Shad held one, and I held the other. We were so excited to have reached this momentous occasion where we could be the official parents to one of these cute, fluffy creatures!
Now, if Shad was the one telling this story, this is where he would say, "Cue the Crazy Lady!" To this day, Shad is absolutely convinced we were scammed. About 90 seconds into our big moment, a lady with puffy, red eyes asked if she could come in and hold one of the kittens. She claimed that she knew she sounded crazy, but these kittens looked exactly like a cat that she'd had for years that had just died. Of course, we said, "Yes". Without saying it out-loud, Shad and I were both thinking, "Perfect! This lady will take one of the kittens, and we will take her sister. What a fortunate moment!" After a few lovely minutes of passing the kittens around and "oohing" and "awwing" over them, Shad finally asked Grieving Cat Mother, which one she wanted. He explained that we would take the other one. Now, this is the point where Shad became concerned this woman was a con-artist, and I became convinced she was an angel from Heaven. Her response to his question was a horrified face and "OH NO!! You can't separate these two! It would be devasting for them! These cats were born to the same mother and they need to be adopted TOGETHER!"
Now, if Shad was the one telling this story, this is where he would say, "Cue the Crazy Lady!" To this day, Shad is absolutely convinced we were scammed. About 90 seconds into our big moment, a lady with puffy, red eyes asked if she could come in and hold one of the kittens. She claimed that she knew she sounded crazy, but these kittens looked exactly like a cat that she'd had for years that had just died. Of course, we said, "Yes". Without saying it out-loud, Shad and I were both thinking, "Perfect! This lady will take one of the kittens, and we will take her sister. What a fortunate moment!" After a few lovely minutes of passing the kittens around and "oohing" and "awwing" over them, Shad finally asked Grieving Cat Mother, which one she wanted. He explained that we would take the other one. Now, this is the point where Shad became concerned this woman was a con-artist, and I became convinced she was an angel from Heaven. Her response to his question was a horrified face and "OH NO!! You can't separate these two! It would be devasting for them! These cats were born to the same mother and they need to be adopted TOGETHER!"
The end of this story is that we adopted both kittens.
Now, before anyone gets all bent out of shape, I am in NO WAY suggesting that adopting cats is the same as adopting children. I actually wish that we didn't use the word "adoption" for choosing to raise a cat or dog that we didn't give birth to. It's borderline offensive, but I don't make the dictionary or semantic rules, so it is what it is. For whatever reason, there are not two separate words in the English language to distinguish between raising animals and raising children that were birthed by another Mother.
Fast forward over a decade as we are trying to pick a child to host.... OMG! I cannot even begin to explain how hard this process is! (This is another blog post altogether.) In a strange twist of fate, it was my husband who kept looking at the picture of the brother-sister pair who now share our last name. My response was, "TWO? Are you CRAZY?!?" We had raised one child for close to a decade and were finally reaching the stage where things were getting "easier". The thought of hosting one child from another country, who did not speak our language seemed insane enough. My husband was suggesting that we take the insanity just one step further. He actually thought we could handle a 13 year old girl and her 11 year old brother. Whoa! I wasn't so sure. I was terrified, quite honestly. My husband, (God Bless him!), is an elementary school teacher. He has worked with 5th-8th graders for 17 years. I am a firm believer that the secret to his success with this age group is that he is not that much more mature than they are. He seriously fits right in. (Bathroom humor? Right up his alley!) I couldn't believe that he was suggesting that we host two children. It went against everything I thought I knew about him. This was the guy who didn't think we should adopt two KITTENS, and now he was suggesting that taking care of two KIDS was a good idea? Clearly, he had lost his mind. Furthermore, anyone who has ever met my husband knows how incredibly tight he is with money. Parsimonious, is actually a much more accurate word. (For those who aren't currently studying for their SATs, this word basically means: as cheap as cheap can be.) So, if I was getting this all straight, not only were we going to be out-numbered by children, but we were going to pay the hosting fees for two children (double the money), then potentially we would adopt two children (double the money), and then raise three children (much more than double the money). I went to bed that night thinking that this was just a phase, and that in the morning he would be the same tight-wad husband I was used to.
It wasn't a phase.
I suggested that perhaps we could ask Julia (our future adoption faciliator and the individual who had actually interviewed all these children) for her opinion. Trying to bring my husband back to reality, I thought Julia would set his mind straight. I instructed Shad, specifically, to make sure she was keeping in mind that we had a 9 year old only child.
Here is where I need to say that God definitely has an incredible sense of humor. Guess who Julia's first recommendation was! (I know, this is a ridiculously easy question two years later.) In the event anyone is confused, she recommended Valeria and Vitalik, the same sister and brother pair that Shad had already set his heart upon. Within a few days we were were sending off our deposit check to Marina's Kids to make sure that we could host Valeria and Vitalik before anyone else had the chance to have them.
I am not always the most generous wife with giving my husband credit for anything. We are both pretty stubborn, know-everything, control freaks. But, here, I am going to put it in writing, for the entire world wide web to see.....my husband made one of the best decisions of our lives. I am so honored and proud that these two children have now given us the title of Mommy and Daddy.
Fast forward over a decade as we are trying to pick a child to host.... OMG! I cannot even begin to explain how hard this process is! (This is another blog post altogether.) In a strange twist of fate, it was my husband who kept looking at the picture of the brother-sister pair who now share our last name. My response was, "TWO? Are you CRAZY?!?" We had raised one child for close to a decade and were finally reaching the stage where things were getting "easier". The thought of hosting one child from another country, who did not speak our language seemed insane enough. My husband was suggesting that we take the insanity just one step further. He actually thought we could handle a 13 year old girl and her 11 year old brother. Whoa! I wasn't so sure. I was terrified, quite honestly. My husband, (God Bless him!), is an elementary school teacher. He has worked with 5th-8th graders for 17 years. I am a firm believer that the secret to his success with this age group is that he is not that much more mature than they are. He seriously fits right in. (Bathroom humor? Right up his alley!) I couldn't believe that he was suggesting that we host two children. It went against everything I thought I knew about him. This was the guy who didn't think we should adopt two KITTENS, and now he was suggesting that taking care of two KIDS was a good idea? Clearly, he had lost his mind. Furthermore, anyone who has ever met my husband knows how incredibly tight he is with money. Parsimonious, is actually a much more accurate word. (For those who aren't currently studying for their SATs, this word basically means: as cheap as cheap can be.) So, if I was getting this all straight, not only were we going to be out-numbered by children, but we were going to pay the hosting fees for two children (double the money), then potentially we would adopt two children (double the money), and then raise three children (much more than double the money). I went to bed that night thinking that this was just a phase, and that in the morning he would be the same tight-wad husband I was used to.
It wasn't a phase.
I suggested that perhaps we could ask Julia (our future adoption faciliator and the individual who had actually interviewed all these children) for her opinion. Trying to bring my husband back to reality, I thought Julia would set his mind straight. I instructed Shad, specifically, to make sure she was keeping in mind that we had a 9 year old only child.
I am not always the most generous wife with giving my husband credit for anything. We are both pretty stubborn, know-everything, control freaks. But, here, I am going to put it in writing, for the entire world wide web to see.....my husband made one of the best decisions of our lives. I am so honored and proud that these two children have now given us the title of Mommy and Daddy.
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