This past weekend, I told my parents that we’re adopting a baby. I was waiting for my dad to come up from Florida, so that I could tell him in person. Though I made myself almost sick worrying about his reaction, it all went extremely well. It took all of a steak dinner for me to convince myself that I had to tell him then, and finally I spit it out. He sat, kind of stunned looking, but I think he was just processing the information. Rose, his wife, was immediately excited. She started asking a ton of questions and even had stories to tell of her own experiences with adoption. By the end of the night, my dad told me he was excited and proud of me. What a relief to hear.
And by the next morning, he really ‘got it’. He talked over breakfast about how great it was that I would be giving a home to a child that might not have one, a loving family, an education, health care, opportunity in general. And I’ll admit I underestimated my dad. I never thought he’d think that deeply about the concept of adoption. For the first time, I’m looking forward to introducing my baby to his grandpa.

The day before my dad arrived, I called my mom and told her. I think she was a little hurt that I took so long to tell her, especially when I mentioned that most of my friends knew. She was also worried that I was choosing not to be pregnant because I watched her go through such a terrible pregnancy and complicated labor with my brother. I wrote her a long email explaining all my reasons for adopting and in the end, she also seemed to understand it all. Then she offered to move here and help me take care of the baby. Yeah, not gonna happen.

I also called my brother and told him. In typical 14 year old fashion, he was nonresponsive. I said “Do you have any questions?” and he said “No, I know how it works.” Right. You’re 14, you know everything! Later after the conversation had changed many times, he said “What kind?” “Um, Korean.” “Oh.” And then we moved on. When I talked to my mom the next day, she said he was excited to be an Uncle. I’ll have to take her word for it.

And then there was Aunt Debbie. Who goes down, thus far, for having the greatest quote. After telling her all the news and a few details, she said “What, are you starting your own UN?” Exactly. Like Pinky and the Brain, this is just my plot to take over the world.