Pace Yourself

A change of pace can take a while to settle into and life post approval has very much been a question of re-pacing myself. I had been warned of this, but I had also heard of the rare occasions where a match is virtually ready and waiting and it was a lot more fun preparing for that eventuality than the former.

During Stage 2 and the run up to Panel our adoption journey was quite equal to the task of keeping up with the the fast pace of work and family life. Weekly assessment meetings over a couple of months, followed by a lunch for our supporters to meet our AW; Day 4 Training and wanting to be as ‘new arrival ready’ as possible ensured that our ‘Adoption Busy’ matched our ‘Normal Life Busy’ stride for stride.

Post approval however, the former running partners need to be happy to fall out of stride with each other for a while.

Normal life races on in its usual hectic way rightly refusing to be put on hold. The year moves relentlessly on into territory that had held the potential to be shared with our new arrival, while the adoption jogs on slowly behind.

But this too is just a stage and a very important one at that. A vital leg of the race which is – like all parenting – a marathon and not a sprint. When our new arrival has been with us for 4, 10, 24…. years I am sure that I will look back on this season of waiting with great fondness – because it brought us our child. Would I trade them for another child just because they were ‘ready for collection’ a month or two earlier – not in a million years!