Adoption

Adoption:
My wife and I tried for 4 years to conceive a child of our own, but every time it was a failure. My wife always brought the topic of adopting but I was never ‘into it’. It breaks my heart to adopt a child that is not ours, but at the same time it crushes my heart to realize that I can’t give my wife a child. We signed a document and paid the application, it was like putting a price on our baby, and even worse putting a price on my deficiency. I always thank God that my wife is the way she is, I was thankful that she never got upset and was always looking for ways to make me feel better. I love Joanne a lot. Days turned in months, and months turned into years as we were anxiously awaiting a call from the adoption agency. There were some nights when I wanted to call it quits, but never showed my emotions to her. Joanne hated going for walks, going to parties and visiting houses, and I had promised that I wasn’t going to force her. It was on the 17th of June, that our prayers had been answered. There was a single mother who was looking for a couple who would adopt her 4 month year old son. Telling Joanne was the most grateful thing I did, we automatically accepted the offer. The mother’s name was Dianne Robertson and she had given us the privilege to name her son. We thanked her, and told her she is more than welcome to visit her son at any time. It was a day of joyful tears, until Dianne had told us that her son has been affected with Down syndrome and she apologized that she hadn’t told us before. She said she was afraid that we would neglect her son, like the other parents. My wife knelt beside her, held on to her hands, wiped away Dianne’s tears and said...”You have given us hope when others did not. I would never neglect your son and nothing has changed. I still love him, and will continue to. It has been 8 years of waiting and I am not letting Down syndrome get in my way.” As my wife cried away, I walked towards my son and slowly felt his hair, I felt it. I felt the pain that my wife was going through all these years. I felt the happiness of receiving a child. I felt it. As my tears dropped on his cheek, I never released how much I will love my son. I moved towards his left ear and slowly whispered the 2 words that made me a man today. “Thank-you”. As I held my son for the first time, I looked at the board in front of me. It read “Adoption is when a child grows in your heart, rather than in your tummy” .I walked out of the room with my son asleep on my shoulder.