Seven years ago today I became a mom for the second time, in a courtroom in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. It was snowing outside. I practiced over and over saying to him in Russian "I am your mama!" for when the judge declared us legal!
It was one of the top 5 happiest days of my life. I cannot imagine my life now without my wonderful son Michael.
This was made outside the courtroom where the adoption hearing took place. See how tiny he was?! He is now taller than I am.
April 3rd was also the wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents, Bob and Wilma Hasty. So it was already a special day in our family.
The irony is that Michael reminds Mother and I a LOT of the Hastys. Despite the name "hasty" they are really not hasty; the hasty men are deliberately, slow-moving, slow-talking, deep-thinking guys. It takes 15-25 minutes to get Michael out of bed in the morning. Takes my uncle Don about the same amount of time.
The hardest part about being his Mom right now is knowing that in a couple of years he will finish high school and go out into the world, whether to work or college or both. He is already quite mature in so many ways. I feel a bit cheated, since he was 10 when I adopted him. I SO wish I had known him when he was a little guy.
I hope I am around years from now when Michael has children.
I plan to spoil them rotten.