Not As Old As We Think + Adoption Update

Friday night we went to see the opening of the Cirque de Soleil's new show Corteo, which has just started its run here in Atlanta. Wanda and I haven't been to see a Cirque show since Saltimbanco waaaay back in 1993. We weren't even married! Luckily for us, Wanda, being a Person of Importance, got free media passes, so all we had to pay for was parking ($10) and we were in the door.

As usual, the performance was mind-blowing - perhaps the most visually stunning thing I've ever seen (at one point in the proceedings an angel holding a lit candelabra walks a tightrope across an almost completely blackened stage... upside-down!), with people flying everywhere, doing things that I'm sure were anatomically impossible, and displaying prodigious strength and grace simlutaneous with a clear desire to die in spectacular fashion. Nobody died, though. We cheered for them anyway.

The only down-side was that I sat next to a 250 pound woman who absolutely refused to uncross her legs, so I had her hamhock thighs pushing against me most of the show. And she wasn't even sitting in her own seat. As we were approaching our seats, she looked up and said, "Are these your seats?" To which I responded "Why, are you not in your seat?" To which she responded "No, I moved over a few to get some extra space." I then noticed empty seats next to her. So, she could have moved over and given us BOTH space, but apparently she only wanted space on her left side. Her right side she was content to mush against me. Whatever, the show was fantastic regardless.

Even better was afterwards, when we went to the exclusive PARTY thrown by the Cirque up at which their cast and crew showed. I have never, ever, in all my life been anything like as cool as this party was. Take every party ever thrown on Sex and the City, or that you see the Hilton sisters at, or something, mash them all together and then add drunken Cirque members with spectacular senses of humor, really loud house music, a food spread you wouldn't believe if I tried to explain it to you, horse and buggy rides around the floor provided by cast member painted as horses and wearing chaps and horse-hair hats and tails, beds and couches haphazardly placed for seating, and an open bar serving alcohol of all types, and you've got built-in pandemonium. We danced, we noshed, we drank, we ogled various cast members in various states of dress and undress, Wanda and I took one of the afore mentioned carriage rides, and had a stupendously good time. When the party finally came, reluctantly, to a halt, it was 2:30 and we were still going strong. By the time the thing finally wound down and we were escorted out of the building by policemen it was 3:15. We were proud of ourselves for staying out late and being hip and urban and edgy. It's been a long time.

And that wasn't even the most exciting thing we did this weekend.

We realize it's been a while since we posted anything about our adoption process. Our pat answer to the question, when asked, is that we're behind in our paperwork. Truth is, we're WAY behind on our paperwork, and haven't put any time into it any time recently. The reasons for this are various : we're still grieving over not being able to make our own babies; we resent having to go through the process at all while miserable fuckers like Brittney Spears can pop out as many screaming little pieces of protein as they want; December is a profoundly busy time for musicians, and carving out time to do anything besides work, rehearse or perform takes more energy than either of us have; etc; etc; etc.

The fact is we just weren't ready. Until yesterday.

Saturday, December 17th was our designated Adoption Retreat. We turned off the phones, we turned down any and all offers of distraction and we finally sat down and read through our entire adoption manual that we received from Great Wall which we've had printed out for several months now. We got ourselves organized, formed a checklist, developed a plan and we have goals set for now through the end of the year, at which point we'll see where we are and plot a course from there. We are, at long last, coming out of our dark emotional night to stand, blinking, in the light of progenical progress.

This week's goals are to pick our home study agency, get some verification from the state as to their requirements for notarization, and get our Work Letters done, which involves a letter on company letterhead stating your salary, the length of your tenure, and, if the company will do so, the liklihood that your employment will continue. We will also make appointments to get our Doctor's Letters done, which means essentially getting a full physical and then having a notary watch your doctor sign the form saying you aren't going to die any time soon (we assume this is the case, anyway).

As we accomplish these goals I will post the updates here so you guys can play along at home, along with the update in our next steps. Stay tuned!