Well, Since It's National News, I Might as Well Share His Name!

A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from Today's Parent letting me know I'd won their "Reader with a Cause" award. I was super excited, and can't wait to see the article they're crafting.

They're providing AFABC with $2000 to help support family networking, and the story will appear in the March 2010 issue! They interviewed me on my adoption story, interviewed AFABC on our work to help support & educate adoptive families, and then they wanted my picture.

Back the train up a minute... they want to take my photo  Ohhhhhhhhhhh NO. Not a picture!!! Can't I just hire a toddler to draw one of me instead? 

Have you seen me lately? 

My eyebrows are caterpillars.

I'm breaking out like a teenager on pixie sticks.

I found a whole new crop of grey hairs, and I have wrinkles between my eyebrows (which, see above, resemble caterpillars).

I haven't been to the gym in weeks.

I haven't put the chocolate down in months. (Okay, years. Okay.. my whole lifetime!)

And they wanted to take my picture? 

I put in a call to my esthetician. (Did I even spell that right?) She remembered me, thankfully, and was kind enough to fit me in on one day's notice to tame the brows. But the rest couldn't be helped! They sent a really awesome photographer to our office and set up a very professional backdrop to my 'photo shoot'. 

Let me qualify my apprehension: I am no supermodel. I grew up under the loving watch of a mother who somehow succeeded in NEVER having her photo taken since her wedding day 40 years ago. The idea of joyfully posing for a national magazine gave me cold sweats. But I did it, and it was actually kind of fun!!

The article was a neat experience, too. I like to think of myself as a somewhat talented amateur, and it was really cool to talk to a professional writer and watch her craft our story. Kevin & I talked at length before the interview about how much and what details we would share with the world. This article won't just be reaching the intimate group of 1,000 AFABC members who receive our bi-monthly FOCUS magazine, and it won't be out on the internet like this blog, where anyone could find it but you have to be interested enough to look!

It's going out there to the world in a very respected, widely read national magazine, to be opened (and hopefully enjoyed!) by parents across Canada. So how much did we want to reveal? What details should we divulge, and what should be kept private? 

In the end we made it child-centered, and respectful of all parts of his family. When Little Man grows up and reads the article, he'll feel proud of his story and not upset because too much of it was shared. If any birth mother reads it (his in particular, but anyone who made an adoption plan for their child), they will feel that their choice is respected, and hopefully the love, respect, and gratitude we have for her will shine on the page. 

So we're looking forward to March to see the article in print! And since it's going in the magazine anyways, I suppose it's time to share Little Man's Name.

Although we won't be ready to share his face with the world until he can decide for himself, we are ready to see his name in print. Allow me to introduce our Little Man, Noah.