Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Perspective

Some of you know that Mr. Bean and I are in the process of becoming licensed foster parents, so that we can adopt a local teenager (“Daisy Mae”) who has stolen the hearts of both of us, and K to boot.

We have to complete 60 hours of classes, and our home study, and our physicals, our fire marshal inspection, CPR and First Aid training, background checks, finger prints and a full psych evaluation. And we have to buy a new bed and carpet for her room.

Is it worth it?

On Sunday, I was at the neighbor’s house where Daisy lives right now. Her foster mom, Lori, and I were planning this year’s gardens: I get the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other crops that need the wetter, more fertile soil of our floodplain garden site. Lori would grow beans, peas, corn and other crops that probably need a bit drier soil.

At some point, Daisy wandered through the room. Grabbing an apple off the counter, she looked at me. “Um…so…what are you guys having for dinner?”

“The carnivores are having steak; I have a piece of salmon.”

“I love steak. Have I mentioned that I love steak?” She grinned and hopped from foot to foot.

“Would you like to some for dinner?” I looked at Lori, “You wanna send her over for dinner?”

“What?” said Lori, “and miss out on hearing her complain about my cooking??” She winked.

Daisy giggled and hopped up. “I’ll get my shoes.”

Daisy arrived with a box of hair color in her hand. “Maybe after dinner, could you help me color my hair?”

Two hours later, dinner was prepared and eaten. Dishes were done. Daisy and the Bug were curled up together on the couch, watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Daisy was falling asleep. Mr. Bean was already snoring.

I looked down at the strawberry blond hair peeking out of the blanket, “You’re not comfy, are you?”

Daisy laughed and stretched a bit. “Can we color my hair later this week? We’re cozy.”

I’m sure, five years from now, that I’ll be able to count these moments on one hand. But these moments remind me why we’re taking all these classes and switching our lives around. It’s so we can make a difference for her.

It’s so she can make a difference for us.

And yeah; it's worth it.

6 comments:

Alison said...

"We have to complete 60 hours of classes, and our home study, and our physicals, our fire marshal inspection, CPR and First Aid training, background checks, finger prints and a full psych evaluation."

Imagine if you had to do all this in order to procreate...

bhd said...

Lovely!

winter said...

Sounds worth it, all right. :)

Ellie Creek Ellis said...

Yes, doing it for each other.

You'll gain as much as she will, maybe even more...(but I know that's not why you're doing it).

Have a good weekend.

Sue said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Beanie said...

Sue,

Got your message. Erased your comment to protect the innocent. ;) You should have an email from me.

B