Baggage

So, Shelley and I just got back from our "Last Hurrah - Sort of a Honeymoon - Adventure" to Ecuador and the Galapagos. It was amazing. Truly trip of a lifetime -wild kingdom - animals up close- Darwinian stuff. And of course now that we're back, we're tasked with one of my very least favorite things to do - unpacking our luggage.

So, of course, because I hate unpacking (not a big fan of packing either, I always say I want to just hop on a plane without anything and then buy what I need once I'm there, but that'll never actually happen) I'm procrastinating. Thinking about baggage rather than dealing with my own. Well, at least not the physical suitcases in front of me.

The emotional baggage is another story entirely. Since we've begun this adoption process, we've really done a lot of examination of our baggage. I know a lot of people can be resentful of the "intrusive" questions that are asked of pre-adoptive parents - the hoops we have to jump through that other folks don't. But as uncomfortable as it can be at times to have to take a really close look at our lives and think about how we want to be as parents, I'm really thankful for the process.

Am I saying it has prepared us to be phenomenal parents? Of course not!!! But in my mind there's absolutely no way that actually taking a long hard look at our own stuff can't help in the long run. And not necessarily just to be better parents, but to be overall better people in the world. That's the goal, anyway. As far as I'm concerned, though, it's a work in progress.