Category: Uncategorized
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Two more months
I can’t help but get giddy at the realization that it is 2019 already. Two more months till Spring, and thus till we meet our youngest. Tomorrow we visit Jackie’s foster parents. We bring gifts and cookies baked by Conrad. They have a seven year old in foster care. A gift for her as well.…
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The imitation game
“I’m wiping down this window” shouts Jackie from the bedroom, as we got home on New Year’s Eve. “It sweated again and a little water dripped on the hardwood floor.” It occurred to me that I don’t remember my parents guiding me with too many words. But I remember watching them. What if they said…
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Mami, what do you do?
The curiosity to understand our parents’ day jobs has begun, earlier for Jackie than it happened to me. In first or second grade I had to tell my teacher what my parents did for a living, except my parents didn’t have standard jobs (policeman, teacher, doctor etc). My mom was a chemist working in a…
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Loneliness
I don’t presume to grasp fully this feeling, but I’ve had my encounters with it. It is what brought me to my knees, as a figure of speech as well as literally, over two decades ago. This year I’ve read a handful of books, mainly on parenting to help me to better tackle this role, but…
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Perspective
Is perspective different from culture to culture? Definitely I would say. Adoption is not talked about much in Romania because it’s rarer and somewhat tabu. While in California it was all too common, and thus lost in familiarity. We want to admit it or not, in many countries there is a stigma associated with adoption.…
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The love that lingers
“A lot of people love me! Carmen loves me! Do you remember? In Lacu Roșu, she would greet me with: Good morning, sunshine!” says Jackie, on the way to kindergarten this morning, out of the blue. Ah, the knowledge, the belief and confidence that you are loved without a trace of doubt. May this sense…
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Are you French?
When I met Conrad I knew our kids will be different. The gift and burden of international parents, bilingual and preprogramed with wanderlust
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Family in celebration mode
It could have fooled anyone. A celebratory sight. Dressed for holiday: our table, our attire, our smiles.
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Cartea se lansează în Ianuarie
Copiii noștri au o voce. O voce senină, clară, chiar și atunci când este tremurată sau soptită. Uneori nouă adulților ne este frică sau jenă să privim drept în ochi inima lor, iubirea lor, durerea lor. Dar important e că vrem să le ascultăm povestea. N-o să înțelegem niciodată pe deplin totul. Dar faptul că…
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Despre Tristețe
Mă simt trista. Zice a mea, cea de 5 ani. De ce? Întreb. Nu stiu. Răspunde ea sincer.
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A week in France in November
I’ve known Livia for over three decades. The longest I’ve known any of my current adult friends. My Mom tells me stories about going shopping for her wedding, with Livia’s mom (her wedding godmother as well). We are second degre cousins. We share a great-great grandparent. My genealogist-by-nature mom would know. And we used to…
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Exploring nature on a whim
In college I longed to go explore beautiful Romania. But I can count on one hand how many times I did that. I love nature, I enjoy hiking, but I was in a pretty lazy crowd. Only three guys had cars, and the logistics of traveling were otherwise complicated. And the days, the weeks, the…