My Pre-Midlife Crisis: A Family Forever

Saturday, March 03, 2007

A Family Forever

As of yesterday at about 4:30, the three of us were declared a forever family. While it felt great, and we were all smiles, there was nothing that suddenly washed over any of us. Judge Wonderful simply declared to the world what we have been all along.

Judge Wonderful asked if we truly understood our responsibilities and that this was forever - never to be undone. "Absolutely!" we replied. She asked if we were requesting to change her name, and at the very end she declared us parents of Mia Elizabeth Ourlastname. We waited for a few minutes for our lawyer to get the final paperwork, and we got our copy of the declaration and went to celebrate with friends over dinner, drinks, and a Happy Adoption Day cake. It was a very nice afternoon.

The photos aren't splendid, as Mia is cutting 2 molars and 2 other teeth as well , and was actually running a pretty high fever. She was pretty full of baby Advil, and took the day like a champ. She came alive in court, and entertained everyone by standing on my lap and trying to climb onto the Plaintiff's table. We did get to take a picture with Judge Wonderful, which we were grateful for.

We're all pretty tired today, and Mia is racked out in the bed with gums freshly coated with Ora-jel. There are snow flurries outside as I type - which seems wrong for March 3rd just about anywhere.

To add to our joy, and clench our decision about where to live, Michael's current department managed to come up with a $7500 raise to his current salary. That would make it pretty silly of us to leave, even if George Mason was offering tenure and promotion. This morning, Michael announced to me that he decided to turn down their offer and stay right here for at least another year. I'll admit, I am relieved. We still have student loans to pay off, and other assorted younger-and-less-responsible debt to pay off, so staying here with that much boost in income would put us in a much better position a year from now (assuming we remain fiscally responsible). I would have gone with him if he had decided to go, but it would have been with a heavy heart. I know it hurts him to turn down the offer - tenure and promotion being the big hurt, I think. But he'll get T&P here, too, and I'll help out wherever I can to make that happen.

Life looks pretty stable right now. Tonight we're going to shop for an entertainment center for the livingroom. Since we moved, the TV's been sitting on top of a hope chest and everything is prefectly at toddler-level. As much as I despise the look of most TV cabinets, I must admit most anything will look better than what we have right now.

The next big projects will be to clean up Michael's home office and try to make space for him to work with graduate students here in the evenings and on weekends. We'll also try to get Mia's room in better shape.

So, I'll bet you want to see pictures, right?

Getting ready to leave the house...