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Have you been to MichelleSmiles blog? From her occasional memos to her comments about the adoptive process, her blog definitely has smiles in store for you. However, she suffers from the same condition I have. In her post People will start crossing to the other side of the street… she details her…our serious condition.
I’m turning into one of those people that everyone will avoid because they don’t want to look at yet another set of photos. I really don’t force them on anyone. I only show them off when asked but it doesn’t take much prompting.
Becoming a parent has been the most fulfilling thing in my life since..well since I became a husband. Yeah I know your choking on the sappyness. However, the part of her post that got to me was in the beginning as she described the situations she showed off her photos.
At lunch I went to the bank to get a cashier’s check to pay my agency fee. Out of curiosity she asked what the check was for so I happily told her. She kept asking questions which prompted me to pull out my photos.
It seemed everywhere I went there were opportunities to share about our adoption. To be honest, I steered some conversations intentionally in that direction but most honestly just wound up there. I found that I had a great platform and a great responsibility not only to share the beautiful pictures of my precious child but to also represent the process of adoption. For those moments, the person I was talking to was formulating his opinion of the adoption community based on his conversation with me. It was at that point that the pictures came out even more frequently and conversations often were more pointed toward the process. I went from adopting parent to adoption advocate and I haven’t returned.
Of course since our adoption we had a baby boy (a monster of a boy who eats like a moose…wanna see a picture?). Will we adopt again? I don’t know and as of right now probably not. However, adoption changed our lives and I am a huge supporter of adoption. I welcome any opportunity to share about the process. Even when people express themselves and their ignorance I try my best to be a positive influence and educator in their life.
So yes Michelle, you are not alone in being “that person” that people avoid when they have no time for photos. However, as you showed in your post, most people are so interested in adoption that they beg to see your pictures. Use that opportunity if you can to be the influence this community needs!
You are too funny sometimes!
To see the entire post by Michelle, visit http://www.michellesmiles.com/?p=179
Ok then…on to other things
