Gotcha Anniversary

Well here it is, the one year anniversary of our Gotcha Day. "Gotcha" is a term used in the adoption community to represent the day of coming together. Some people call it Family Day. It's to put an emphasis on the "birth" day of the new family. For most, it's not the official day of the legal adoption (although in China-adoption that day is usually very soon after). For me, it says that we "got" Emmy and she "got" us. In the flesh. I think we "had" each other long before.

As I went to sleep last night I thought that one year before Dave and I ended our last day as a two-person family. Emmy's day ended no differently than it had for the past eleven months. She didn't know the change that would happen the next day. We did. We had anticipated it for so long it felt unreal. Some people describe those hours leading up to the Gotcha moment in terms of labor and delivery. For me, I had labored and delivered a thousand times over starting with the first form I filled out. Gotcha was for me a sigh of relief, a thank you, a filling of my soul.

I remember taking Emmy back to the hotel that day and sitting her on the bed. Dave and I stared at her and she stared at us. We felt like, "Okay, what do we do now?" Well, we muddled through but I'd be lying if I didn't say that everyday, even one year later, still starts with "Okay, what do we do now?" Now, however, we now have Emmy to lead the way, giving us LOTS of suggestions of what the next step in loving her needs to be.

We are celebrating the day with giving Emmy a gift that we bought her in China. We will watch the video tape of that day and maybe look at pictures. We plan to eat at a Chinese restaurant tonight. In between all that we'll have our normal daily trials and tribulations which are for me a sigh of relief, a thank you, a filling of my soul.

Yesterday Emmy's cousin Brittaney was here. She also came to the family by way of adoption. They sat together on a "Sit & Spin" and were giggling. I had a moment where I felt that the four adults in the room were truly brilliant to know that love crosses boundaries that aren't always simple or easy.

If you ever know anyone who wants to be a parent and they are thinking about adoption, don't let them only hear the cautionary stories. Make sure they know that while the adoption process is not for the faint-of-heart, it is an incredible journey that after all the labor, gives birth to a family.