Articles Book III - Pg 300-560 (Birthparents) - triadoption

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Decnus; I no longer L d a television set,
I had to nnd new wnys of entertaining
myself at night. The nrst night, I rcnrranged
the entire apqtmcnt nnd hung
u some bright posters that I had pur- .
ctnsed weeks before.
Tb necond nlght, I decided to expcri.
ment and ended up mnklng whole-wheat
bread. I had nevcr mnde it before, and I
felt so proud of myself when I saw those
crisp brown loaves.coming out of the
oven,
Each dn teemed like more fun now,
, bccnusc I &it like I hnd lrlends to slrnre
things wlth. Althouglr I wasn't ns close to
thcm as the frlcnds I had left at home, I
kncw that in time I could be. I renlized
now that I hndn't given other people
much of achnnce to be my friends. .
The thlrd night. I had just gotten home
from work nnd chnn ed into old clothes,
preparing to do tile k nundry, when tlrerc
war a knock on the door. I opened I: to
nnd Mike stnndin there. It took n mo-,
mcnt for me to rcnflze why Ire looked different,
nnd then I saw\ that be wasn't in
unltorml
"You're wenrin normnl clothes,"
blurted out In surpr f se.
Mike Inughed. "I don't wenr my uniform
when I'm offdut ."
"nut if you're off i uty. then wlry are
1 you here?' I nsked, puuled.
L "Thls is a ~crsonnl call," Mikesni!. "I
didn't come /lere for police business.
70 "You cnnre toseeme?" I nsked.
1 '
"Yes-unless you're hlding someoue
else in here." Mlke replied wit11 a grin.
"Oh, pleare come In," I sold. "I
wnsn'l tbinklng."
Mlke looked nt the pile of dirty ciotl~u.
"Looks like you're etting rendy to do
Inundry. Would ou ikkesomc help?"
"Sure," I repifed bnppily.
And, so, strnnge ns it sounds, thnt's
txnctly whnt Mike and I did. After we'd
put the lnundry in, we ordered a tnke.out
iun and shnred n bottle of red wine. We
r
aughcd and kidded each other ns if we'd
been friends for ycnrs.
At the end of tire evenin , Mike took
me in his nrrns and held met f ghtly ngninrt
him. I snu glcd closer, feeling secure and
happy in h& embrace.
'You're a very specini indy," Mike
whispered to me. "I'm nlmost hnppy
your npnrtment wns robbed because I got
to meet you."
I tilted my face un for the kiss tltnt I
knew was cdmitrg, aid It wns every bit as
.nod nr I'd hnncd.
Since that njgltt, Mlke nnd I hove been
dating stendily. We'll be setting married
in aliout six~months. nnd 1% invited
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everyone in my dcnnrtment to the wcddlng
The police never did cntch tire bur inr
who rnnsncked nry npnrtment; but, B n n
strnnge wny, 1'11 nlwnys be grntcful to
whocvcr it wns. Thc robbcry brought nrc
n new outlook on life-nnd n llfe with !Ire
mnn I ~ OVC~
Tllf: END
by pure chnncc, nnd even sot to becotrie '
purl of his dally life. You see, last yenr
my son wns in the sixth grndc, nnd I wns
his tenchcr.
When I wnr n lccrmgcr, and before all,
this happened, I lind occnsionnl dates, but
never a steady boyfriend. I went to tile
movies nnd cxchnnged n few kisses, but
Lhnt was nhout all. When I nlet Milton,
though, things chnngcd. Tire rclationsl~ip
didn't last, nnd we mndc love only once.
but I ended up pregnnnt. To make things
worse, I completely ignored nt condition
until I wns almost hnlfwny tirough nty
prcgnnncy.
Onc dny, i~owcver, my rnothcr took trre
nslde and nskcd mc if l wns pregnant. I
tried to hide the truth, but sire took mc to
a doctor n~rd ire contlrmcd tlrnl she wns
right. Before I kncw whnt wns going on,
they sent me off to n lro~nc for unwed
mothcrs. My nrcnts mndc it clear thnt I
wns welcome gome, but I kncw my baby
would ncver be occcptcd.
On April ninctecnth, n dny I will ncver
torget, my bnby was horn. I didn't get to
sce him, but the nurse told me that he svns
n healthy male. I was nliowed to give him
a first nnmc, nnd I nnmrd him Lee.
Attcr I returned home, I went back to
school, mnde up the work I'd missed by
going to summer school, and grndunted
with my clnss. I supposc that people
kncw, or nt lens! suspected, where I hnd
been, but no one ever snid anything to me
about it. I wns just as glad they didn't, bccnuse
I dldn't even speak to my own fnrn.
ily about my illtle boy. I kncw there wns
no polnt in upsettin thcm; but thouglr it
wns nppnrcnt thnt t 7 ley wnntcd to forget
about him, I knew I nevcr could.
To be honest, pnrt of me lived in a
dream world I had created. I tried to
imngine how little Lee looked, where he
wns, what he wns like, nnd how his
parents cnred for hlm. At times. 1 even
pretended thnt Lee wns with me. nrtd we
were a 11s py motl~cr nnd son. nut every
year, on r.ee'r birtirdny, n heavy gloom
would descend on me nnd I pltied m self
for being deprived of the joy of rasing r
Lce.
Afler I grndunted from high school, I
went to the stnte tenclrcr's college. I hnd
decided thnt in helping othcr children, I
mlght sntlsfy my longing to be part or my
son's IIre.
As soon as I got my teachirrg certincnte,
I went to work inn public scirool
ncnr a lnrge city in m home state. It was
a smell school-on !' y two classes per
grade-but last yenr wns nlready my tl~ird
yenr Icnchiag there. About two weeks
alter scl~ool started, n new child enrolled
inmy clnss. ltis nnmc wns LeeGiiman.
I don't remember making nnv conncc-
. tlons nbout his name nt flrst. Lee tit in
well with tire clnss. Tltc students liked
him, nnd I did, too. He was n good student,
pnrticulnrly in reading nnd cornwl~lclr
were my fnvoritc subwas
well-mannered nnd had a
cnutiful smile.
Lee nr~d I got nlong well. I tensed him
nbout l~nvlng so mnrry "girllriends," nnd
he worked hnrd lor my npprovnl in clnss.
Dut it wns~r't until the Friday betore the
Chrislmns lrolidnys thnt I put two nnd