I got my first opportunity to speak to a group of potential adoptive parents at adoption education day today. It was a little nerve-wracking. I tend to be pretty abstract-random in my thinking, so I brought an outline to keep me on track. Boy, was I glad I did. I had to refer to it several times when I got off on a sidetrack and had to figure out where I was in our story. I probably drove the couples crazy :) There were quite a few couples this time. I think I counted six. I knew one of them from RESOLVE, so it was fun to see familiar faces. And I also knew the birthmom that talked. We got a nice, long time to speak because the adoptee ended up cancelling due to illness. So I didn't have to worry about my time, which was nice since I'd never done my talk before. I would definitely need to shorten it up a bit if there was another speaker. Both the birthmom and I went a little long and filled up the extra slot with no problem. I could really talk all day about our adoption story if you gave me the chance. But I hit the highlights and then answered a few questions afterward. The questions will help me next time and the couselors promised they'd be asking me back. I guess I didn't do too badly. I guess they're always looking for a positive story and the fact that we have more openness than most people is another plus. They definitely like to have someone speak who is not afraid of openness and we've fully embraced it. It's worked out great for us and I wish every adopting couple an experience as wonderful as ours.
