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At the food court yesterday, I went to the Chinese place. Two Chinese women were working behind the counter...one taking orders and one ringing them up.
Me: Two orders of potstickers, please
Woman #1 to Woman #2: Dos potstickers!
Woman #2: Dos potstickers?
Woman #1: Dos potstickers, por favor!
Woman #2 to me: Dos potstickers, I mean two potstickers, $5.15 please.
The lovely Manuela over at The Thin Pink Line has something very exciting happening. Go post an encouraging comment!
Her latest post is about infertiles who become pregnant without (apparent) intervention, and all the dumb comments that invariably ensue. It got me thinking, and I came up with this analogy:
Fertile people go to the ATM to get cash. Infertile people go to the slot machine. It's not impossible to get cash out of it, but the odds are really against us. If you hit the jackpot, fertile people will say, "see, I told you if you did it like I did it, it would work for you," and will share all the info about how their "system" works. But the ATM doesn't require a system...whereas the slot machine is designed to SCREW YOU.
Some people pour their life savings into the slot machine, and eventually hit the jackpot...or not. Others may find a quarter on the floor on their way out of the casino and get lucky on that one last try. But no matter how many lucky people you see or hear about, you should know that it's NEVER going to be the same as the ATM. And just like a slot machine, there is no system that can beat it...only luck.
Of course, thinking about this got me thinking about how to extend the money analogy to cover adoption. And what popped into my head is: since the ATM doesn't work and I can't afford (emotionally anyway) to play the slots, I'm robbing the casino!
I know, I know, it's a terrible, insensitive, non-positive-adoption-language analogy. But I feel pretty guilty about benefitting from another woman's loss (and a child's loss). And in the movies it's always a glorious thing, when they open the vault and find all those stacks and stacks of lovely money. It's better than any jackpot...but ethically questionable. So the analogy works for me, at the moment anyway!
We just got our fingerprint referral letters from USCIS! This is basically our "ticket" to get our fingerprints taken (for the 3rd time) so that USCIS can check us out. The home study just went to them so this is much sooner than we expected. I'M SO FREAKIN EXCITED! For some reason the home study being done just didn't really register as a big milestone, whereas this...I guess beauracracy just turns me on!
So I've heard this reffered to as the fingerprint "appointment" but it looks like we just show up whenever it's convenient (within the hours the place is open). So we're going to go next Saturday morning (unless I can manage to squeeze it in before then). The letter says we have to go within eighty-four days of receieving the notice, or they'll our request. Um, yeah. I think we can manage it.
Eeep! So exciting!
Eep! We received our completed Home Study, which our SW has also sent to USCIS. Woo Hoo! Yikes! I guess it's all for real now. In about 6 weeks we should receive our I-171H (or a big stamp that says "NO."
I can't say that the apparent 12-and-growing wait time for a match isn't getting me down, but I'm trying hard to focus on other stuff. We're going on a road trip in a couple of weeks (Boston! Yea! But we won't be there at the same time as SIGGRAPH, boo!). I'm writing a new story and reading a LOT of stuff which I'll blog about later. We're seeing the King Tut exhibit at the Field next week. My Sister-in-law and family are here visiting as well so we're out and about with them. And there's a block party coming up. So I'm keeping very busy. Now all I have to do is maintain that level of activity for a year or more and I'll be fine and the wait won't make me crazy.
