Continued from the previous post ... An entire generation of women were set up! My entire generation. We who now know ourselves as Boomers, this powerful generation of women that ooze confidence, that often take the world by storm, that rise like fresh cream to the top of many a corporate vat ... that as of last week owns the Speakership of the House of Representatives ... we began our adult lives as sitting ducks,... more

Continued from the previous post ...

One Saturday morning, my mother came into my room and sat on the edge of my bed. "Sandra," she said, "You're pregnant."

It didn't occur to me at the time to be anything but ashamed, embarrassed and afraid, but when looking back I know I should have been damned angry, as well.

A few months before this fateful morning, I had gone to my mom for a heartfelt... more

Continued from the previous post ...

By 1968, the small Northern California town where I lived had seen enough pregnant teens that parents had given up all pretense and stopped sending their daughters away. The high school still kicked us out as soon as the administration learned of our condition, but we had the right to join the other losers in the small portable building in the parking lot that served as Continuation... more

Okay. So I 'm totally up to my eyeballs in work right now. Deadlines be pressin', speeches need writin', duties need doin'. Not to mention kids that need feedin' and changin' and readin' to and supervisin' and a husband that needs luvin', and ... ... enough with the hokey bit. I'm tired.

But I have a bee in my bonnet, or my butt, or somewhere really annoying and I have to start dealing with it now or face a world of nasty, festering stings later.

At this moment ... or to be more accurate, at the last moment I had a spare moment... more

So, who is the odd woman out? The older mom who didn't get around to being a parent until the back side of 40 or later, or the young woman doing the mom-thang before she's twenty? A story from Australia looks at mothering from both ends of the age spectrum.

Separated by two decades, Phillips and Stiles are at opposite ends of the age range for mothers but their decision to have children rested... more

I didn't check the clock, but it must have been somewhere between midnight and 3 am when my aging and brittle bladder prompted me awake and set me on a path to the bathroom.

Since the distance is the same either way, I opted for the route that goes from my side of the bed, out the doors to the balcony, down a bit, then makes a left at the glass door to the bathroom ... the one that lets me look out over the sea whenever I get those few moments to luxuriate in the bath (When was the last time that happened?) ... rather than the path that could disturb Mark.

Since this has become a nightly routine, no matter what steps I take to prevent the interruption in my sleep, I don't usually... more

Although I'd been through the baby thing before, having started raising my first two kids more than thirty years before, Mark was new to the game when Sam came home in early 2003. We had parented our foster son, T, for a couple of years, but he was two-years-old when that process began, so baby stuff was behind him.

As with many grownup guys in our world, Mark had a passing familiarity with infants ... he know roughly what shape they were, and was aware of their prodigious abilities to manufacture fluids... more

Yes, we all know that November is Adoption Awareness Month. Aside from Thanksgiving ... so very sadly not a holiday where I live, and one I miss a whole bunch ... various other designations of specialness have been bestowed upon the month, some weeks, and just about every single day. (Who does said bestowing is not within my realm to know, and I'm kinda of happy about that.)

Just in case you're looking for something else to get all squishy and sentimental about ... as if kids munching turkey at warm family get-togethers isn't enough ...... more

I'm on a history kick today, and if you'd like to read about the early days of International Adoption, visit my other blog.

Just in case anyone doubts that the wheels of government can turn glacier-melting, geological-time slowly, get sa ... which is Creole for, check this out! It took 149 years for the US government to get a grip on the basics of adoption. Yep. One hundred and forty-nine years to figure... more

Sheesh.

That's my response to this morning's trawl for blog fodder, as most of the news is just silly. Well, annoying and silly. First, I come across this story with one of the dumbest opening paragraphs I've seen in a while:

There are many sad stories revolving around foster care and adoptions, but what is most unheard of is the story with a happy ending. This is such a story.

Huh?

They then proceed... more