Wow, thanks.

Yesterday one of my fellow interpreters paid me a HUGE compliment: she asked if I'm a CODA (child of deaf adults), in other words, if my parents are Deaf. She was basically saying I look like I grew up signing. Nice.

Both my parents can hear, but I did have the advantage of learning the basics of sign language from Deaf co-workers in a natural environment, rather than from a textbook.

The occasional meme

I stole this meme from Zombie Dog. No more (and no fewer) than 2 words can be used. You can do your own in the comments section or post to your blog. Have fun and try not to use the same answers as the person before you.


1. Your cell phone? ..........................acquiring power
2. Your significant other?................best friend
3. Your hair? ....................................unfortunate situation
4. Your mother? ..............................constant support
5. Your father?..................................complicated ruminations

6. Your favorite thing?.....................happy baby
7. Your dream last night?................alas, none
8. Your favorite drink? ....................icy cola
9. Your dream/goal?.........................live fully
10. The room you're in?...................shared office

11. Your ex?.......................................odd dude
12. Your fear?....................................die alone
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?.....still loved
14. Where were you last night?.......home again
15. What you're not?.........................invisible woman
16. Muffins?........................................no thanks
17. One of your wish list items?.......perform music
18. Where you grew up?...................Arizona desert
19. The last thing you did?...............watched dancers
20. What are you wearing?...............mommy uniform

21. Your TV?.......................................my slave
22. Your pets?....................................none, whew
23. Your computer? ..........................my boss
24. Your life?.......................................love it
25. Your mood?..................................better today

26. Missing someone?........................Albert Jr.
27. Your car?.......................................thankfully healthy
28. Something you're not wearing?...high heels
29. Favorite Store?............................geez, none
30. Your summer?.............................good one

31. Love someone?.............................oh yes
32. Your favorite color?.....................bright blue
33. Last time you laughed.................with Fencergal
34. Last time you cried?....................watching Tonys
35. Who will repost this?...................maybe Jack

Tidbits

I don't know if it's her age, but Roxanne far prefers to play with regular stuff than her toys. She's still a big fan of my hairbrushes, and she likes both Dan's and my socks, too. When she puts them on her feet, they go all the way up her legs, so she looks like she's wearing mukluks.

***

A note for the annals of history! Dan and I went on a date to see a movie last Saturday! It's our first movie since Roxanne was born, and we chose Wall-E. Excellent. Great storytelling.

***

Geek alert: For father's day, I bought Dan and Roxanne shirts that say "dad" and "kid" in binary. (For the less geeky: binary is a computer code that represents data in zeroes and ones. ) I considered getting the binary "mom" shirt, but then we would have been the matchy-matchy family, and I just can't go there. Here's a close-up photo of just the shirts -- Dan and Roxanne were having a rough morning.

Home again, jiggity jig

Roxanne and I got home from the hospital this afternoon, and she's doing really well. She's sleeping a lot, and she's a bit cranky, but other than that, she seems to have come through with flying colors.

Roxanne report

Roxanne's surgery went well, she is fine, and we are stayng the night in the hospital tonight, as planned. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Roxanne's surgery tomorrow

Just a reminder that Roxanne is having (relatively) minor surgery tomorrow (Monday) at noon, so please send your prayers, good vibes, etc. for everything to go smoothly. I suspect that closing her g-tube opening will be simpler than putting the g-tube in, but sending your kid in for surgery is always nerve-wracking.

But hey, it's not brain surgery, right?

Roxanne and I will be spending the night at the hospital Monday night, and I don't have a clue how I'm going to keep her contained. I guess they have experts (and drugs?) for that.

I shall not be contained!

(This is Roxanne on her cousins' trampoline in Illinois. We had a great visit. I hope to write more than five words about this trip, but this might be it.)

Nature vs. nurture

I’m way behind on my blogging. I need to blog about our family trip to Illinois. And about how I ran into a Revels friend in DC when I was having a cranky morning. I’ll get to those.

I subscribe to Adoptive Families magazine. I was surprised to hear that such a magazine existed, but if there is a magazine for people who build historical miniatures, then why not adoptive families? According to their website, the circulation is 125,000. I was reading the August edition, and an essay, “Beyond Nature” by Raquel Willerman, captured so much I what I have felt and continue to feel, I had to include some excerpts here. I hope that these selections do justice to her writing. If you’d like to read the whole essay, I’ll get it to you.

Ms Willerman writes about the fact that she doesn’t have a biological link to her adopted children:

The notion that there is something wrong with people who can’t bear children – beyond the fact that they can’t bear children – lurks with the depths of my psyche. Just as a poor person may imagine that money bestows happiness, part of me believes “normal parents” live more fulfilling lives … That this lingering bitterness sits right next to my most profound happiness, being my children’s mother, bewilders me.

…there are still dark times when I am outraged by my infertility, when I can only think that I am an evolutionary dead-end. A discontinued line of goods. Furthermore, my infertility transforms my parents into genetic cul-de-sacs. My sister, their only other child, is childless by choice.

…in spite of the pain and loss that form the kernel of adoption, everything is fine. [I have reached] beyond the science I revered to open myself to something bigger, something more subtle, than inheritance and genetics.

My children and I found each other through a circuitous route, indeed. Though I didn’t make the Darwinian cut, I made the cut to be selected as a mother. After all, it is the joy we take in each other, not the way we came together or the “fitness” of our genes, that’s the ultimate measure of my family.

Someday I’m going to write an essay like this.