An Allegory

Our ODA (open donation agreement) has been approved by both parties. I wasn't sure how we would get our copy notarized because D is sporting a giant cast. But we needed to get it taken care of, so while we were in the big city for D's checkup, we decided to go all out and run over to the notary.

We stopped by the same notary we've used before. Today, we were the only ones there, minus the notary and her coworker. The day was rainy and cool, and she was fanning herself saying how hot she was. She asked us if we were warm, and we politely danced around the question. Her coworker stood in the background, making a cut-throat gesture, begging us to stop, and mouthed "HOT FLASHES" (poor gal, I will be right there with her come this weekend! I'm starting the dreaded l.upron on Saturday).

She  s l o w l y  notarized the document. It does have an abrupt ending with just a signature line, lacking the usual phrasing used in notary documents ("So and so personally appeared before me blah blah"), so for some reason even though this is the third time she has done an ODA for us, she wanted to hand write in some extra verbiage. So, we finally got everything painstakingly notarized and headed back to the car so I could get my patient home to elevate his foot. As we stepped out of the door, we heard the most horrendous, loud series of crashing and crunching noises. People from almost every business in the strip mall ran outside to see what happened.

A wreck. A hit and run wreck, right in the intersection we were getting ready to enter. I happened to see a busted up car limp into our parking lot and seemingly attempt to hide in between other cars (Another sidebar- Hit and run wrecks infuriate me, by the way. Don't drive if you can't be responsible for your actions. Luckily for D's foot, other people noticed, too, so we were able to head on home).

I felt bad for the people who were hit, but it seemed like everyone was okay. I was very relieved that our notary decided to add her own flair to our ODA, because we very likely would have been in the intersection at the time of the accident had she not extended our meeting.

It reminds me that there are so many aspects of our life we think we know best. But in reality, we can only see small parts, so we really may not have the total picture. I hope this can be an allegory for our adoption experience. That we get irritated and impatient but the timing is really for the best.