Family Time
Went to a multigenerational birthday party this past Saturday. I was a guest of the musician hired to sing songs to the patriarch. He was turning 90. It was at a ranch in the hills just south of my town. So, it was familiar territory. As I watched the stream of friends and familiar members arrive, I was reminded of my own family’s reunions and it made me feel good, and I missed them, but I had this one so I just basked in the feeling and thought we should do one soon, too.
Then later that day I thought of how our own little family was about to grow by two. My daughter and her husband, who have been fostering two children in hopes of adopting them, just received word that the adoption can proceed, and it looks as though the adoption will probably happen next month. And that made me happy all over. Only one hitch in the giddy-up. The adoption will be over Zoom because of Covid. So, no big doings at the courthouse. That will have to wait for the family party to follow. I’m good with that. But a big official celebration would have been nice.
And then I hoped that this adoption will make the children happy, too, because believe me when I say they have suffered, and deserve some stability and love. And I thought about the day in the far distant future when they would attend a family reunion and talk about how they came into the family and the youngsters would be surprised to hear they were adopted, and everyone would laugh and tell stories and maybe talk about how it was fun to come to grandpa’s house and just like that my memory would be carried into the future.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale