The Nephew Unleashed
Last week we got a surprise last minute visit from Anthony’s Nephew. He texted and phoned us to let us know that he was coming up to Portland with his dad and wanted to know if he could crash at our place for one night. So after some text messages, Facebook messages and a phone call with his dad; it was arranged for him to spend Thursday night with us. On a side note, people we do not use our phone like mere mortals. You want us? Please email us for a quick reply. We both suffer from undiagnosed Phone-phobia. Well…. at least that is our story and we are sticking to it.)
He arrived about 6:00pm Thursday night with a HUGE suitcase. This prompted lots of “you moving in?” jokes. After he was settled in, we woke up the Samual and all four of us drove over to Claim Jumpers for nice dinner. Yes, per the norm Anthony got the pot pie and Joshua got his cornbread. Over dinner got to hear all the latest family drama and got a chance to catch up with our nephew. That evening Sam and the nephew glued themselves to the downstairs TV playing Star Wars Unleashed II.
Anthony’s nephew also wanted to visit PSU (Portland State University) on this visit. So Anthony was able to get some last minute time off of work and Joshua was able to get permission to come in late. So the next morning we left Sam in bed and the three of us headed over to Biscuits for breakfast. Then Joshua headed to work and Anthony and the nephew headed downtown on the green line MAX for PSU.
Campus Tour
If you have been a regular reader of our blog you know that for the past few years we have been focusing on adopting a child. This means a lot of time, planning and dreaming about those childhood moments (at least for us) with a child aged 4-9, like first day of school, braces, etc. So going down and taking a college tour with a 17 year old young man, someone who is ready and eager to break out of the family unit and become independent was a big blow to the system. We are just not ready for that stage. 🙂
PSU holds some great memories for Anthony, lot of his misspent youth was downtown on or near the PSU campus and in the dorm rooms (enough said). So it was kind of a tour down memory lane and made him feel a bit oldish. It was also a very weird pre-adoptive parent experience, almost like reading an imaginary book called “Parenting: The Experience” but reading it backwards.
But the real mindblower was the fact at noon we (Josh & Anthony) had a prescheduled conference call with our adoption caseworker and the foster dad of a child in Washington that we are in the process of learning a bit more about. The PSU tour was scheduled to end right at noon which was the same time as our conference call was scheduled to begin.
Looking back, the tour guide must have though Anthony hated the tour as he had a very “hurry up” look on his face as the clock approached noon. But the nephew loved the campus and was very jazzed. The gods must have been smiling because just as Anthony and the nephew were handing back in their tour headphones, the conference call came in. Nothing like the Doctor Who soundtrack ring tone blasting from a phone set at its highest level and full vibrate right at the end of a quiet tour… Again, it must have been a funny sight to see Anthony make a beeline outside.
The conference call
Recently after hearing back from a child we submitted on and getting more information about him we found ourselves having a hard time trying to get inside this child’s head and get a good idea of who he is and what we should expect if we were luckily enough to be selected for placement. So after submitting some additional questions back to the child’s caseworker, she recommended that we talk directly to the foster family.
It was a fun call. Well… fun from the nerdy logistics of it all. Our caseworker called each of us; one in Washington (the foster dad), one at work (Joshua) and one sitting on a stone bench outside in the cold (Anthony). It was a nice call and very informative and did change our minds about the child’s needs. The foster father was very forthcoming about the child’s past and progress. Expect a post in the near future.
After freezing outside for an hour on a conference call, Anthony took the frozen nephew out for pizza and then home for some “wholesome” Southpark cartoons.
So a weird day and a glimpse of a hopeful future from two very different positions; a young man searching for independence and 2 oldish (Joshua resents this verbiage) men looking for a little dependent.