And Away We Go ...

Here it is January. The paperwork started in early November when we first contacted our attorney: "We'd like to start the adoption process. We're ready to become parents." And so it began.

We're about halfway through our forms. Collecting our letters of recommedation and doctor approval letters, our fingerprint records and our net worth statement, our list of every past residence and our inevitable (but not required by the state) list of possible baby names.

We're in the midst of reading several books purporting to cover the entire scope of this process. An impossible task, to be sure. As a gay couple, specific guidelines and bits of advice for our relatively unique situation are rarely addressed in most popular adoption books. We both read Dan Savage's "The Kid" when it was first published many years ago and we couldn't agree more with the way he colored the plight of gay adoptive parents: where most straight adoptive parents are likely afflicted with shame and defeat at approaching the adoption option (after biology and infertility have probably failed them) we are thrilled and bursting with pride at this prospect. We feel ecstatic, lucky and grateful. Even at this early stage.

Calvin and I met in August of 1998. In Seattle. I was already planning a move to New York City to pursue a life in the theatre. Unbeknowst to me at the time, he was also considering a move to the big(ger) city to further his education. Apparently, he'd exhausted all of the academic institutions in the Pacific Northwest! We dated for about nine months before we both realized that we were falling. We both fell hard. I had a hard time accepting this definition of love: soft, kind, gentle, caring, constant. I was confident that love was dramatic, noisy and Oscar-worthy. Luckily, opposites not only attract, they meld.

I moved to NYC in September of 1999 and he soon followed in January of 2000. We moved in together the next month and have been a very close, affectionate couple ever since.

We have both always wanted to be parents. Calvin, a former social worker and current medical student, has worked with many kids, as have I. I used to perform in theatre for children and used to teach theatre classes for kids. Fortunately, we are blessed with many little tykes in our family as well: nephews, nieces, dear friends' children, neighbors' kids. We have clocked quite a few hours preparing for our own little bundle of joy: changing diapers, cleaning spit-up, dancing, singing, playing hide and seek, and reading many, many books. Recently, on a visit to my side of the family, I had a blast showing my three nieces how to play some fun theatre games. We look so forward to sharing all of this with a new lil' arrival to our family!

So - a few more months to go until we are able to get certified. We've got to get back to work.

Thank you for your interest and time.