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Victory Day |
Only
pic of Annabelle today. I
wasn’t feeling very “snappy” today, but we did have a nice
visit.
The
main stage. It was like open mike night – a really random assortment of
performers got up and sang and danced, including one guy who should not have
been shirtless and singing Barry Manilow, but in fact, did.
The
heart of the parade route
Wow,
no open container laws. Allowing
free roaming with beer. Me, Andy, Allison and our beers.
Me,
Lenin and a beer.
Me,
some guys with amazing hats, and a beer.
today
is my last day as a drive by mom (hopefully). Tomorrow is court day and unless I
completely screw up, also custody day.
So I wanted to spend this journal entry on the person who got me here.
I can’t tell you how many times
over the last few years I broached the subject of adoption with Margaret. Each
and every time she was encouraging and supportive (sometimes literally as you
can see!).
She was the person that I chatted into
the night with about names. She talked me through the indifference of other
family members. She was the first person I called when I got my referral for
Annabelle and she spent that entire weekend pouring over medicals, learning
what APGAR meant, sending me email after email with information.
The past year I had so many moments of
doubt, and a number of times I was really ready to walk away from the process.
And each time I got there, Margaret would send me an email like this one.
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From: |
"Margaret
Mericle" <mhm.200x@netzero.net> |
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To: |
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Subject: |
RE: NOV 9 &
21 |
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Date: |
Sat, 29 Oct
2005 02:04:43 -0400 |
There doesn't seem to be a way XXXX can be
supportive. I, however, am desperate to be an Aunt.
Don't
give up your dreams. You know you want to do this. And I will always be there supporting
you and my niece (I can’t wait to spoil her).
She
was my partner in this. She wanted
very much to be a mom herself but didn’t think she was ready. So she invested a lot of her emotions
into being a good aunt. Within 3 or
4 days after I told her I signed up to adopt, I got a package in the mail from
Amazon with “how to make your child a reader” and “how to
raise a moral child” as well as “goodnight moon”, “are
you my mother?” and a host of other childhood books. A month later she sent me several sets
of baby clothes. She researched
-----Original
Message-----
From: Mericle, Margaret H CIV NSWCCD Philadelphia, 9822
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 10:59
To: 'mickey_mericle@yahoo.com'
Subject: your kid
Your kid could be descended from the true Amazon
warriors.
I've seen this show twice, but didn't notice one
very key thing until last night's viewing because of your unique situation
currently......all this happens very near the Russian/Kazakh border.
If there's anything within reasonable reach of
where we are, I'd love to visit it if we have time (museums,
archaeology digs, etc etc)
The Kazakh nomads still wear the same style of
clothing depicted on the Greek pottery depicting Amazon warriors from 2500
years ago!
She
would have been an amazing aunt to Annabelle. She certainly was an amazing
sister to me. I only hope I can
live up to her expectations of the kind of mom I would be. Annabelle will only know her Aunt
Margaret through pictures and stories, but I hope someday she’ll
understand how important Margaret was to her coming to our family (and how
important she was to her Aunt).
Here’s to
you Aunt Margaret!
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