"Hurry Up and Wait"

Excerpt from “Hurry Up and Wait …” by Rebecca Robinson, BSW:

Waiting is defined in the Webster's dictionary as "To remain inactive until something anticipated occurs. To put off until later. To be prepared, or ready." We're sure that many of our adoptive families could add their own definitions and descriptions about the limbo of waiting.

Once the paperwork is completed (that in itself, a major accomplishment), the profiles polished and ready, hearts and homes made ready with the expectation of a long awaited son or daughter... the waiting then begins (or continues as it is for some.)

Having personally experienced a long wait (two years), I often describe it as the adoptive parents time of labor. You are expectant parents with no idea of when to expect your child. It can be an emotional, painful, exciting, frightening, joyful time. One thing it isn't is predictable.

Rarely does adoption occur in a neat, organized, time-oriented, totally predictable manner. It is a time when we have little or no control over much of what occurs and it is enough to make some of us want to yell, "An epidural, please!"