YEEE HA!!!

San Antonio skyline

Okay, I am officially excited!  I had wanted to join the adoptees in their march on Philly.  I wanted to go to the one in New Orleans, too, which would have returned me to the city where my husband and I worked after Katrina to help rebuild.  This time I would have stayed in a hotel, not the tent we lived in for 6 months, with our closest neighbor an 8 foot alligator! 

Last fall, when the march was being talked about in Kentucky, I was in my home state of Illinois and had thought that I would join them there, and even discussed with some of the organizers on the phone, and reaching an agreement that mothers have the opportunity to be represented there, too, presenting our agenda of justice and equal access to identifying information.  Then, my husband's job in Illinois, which was temporary anyway (but I am the eternal optimist), was completed and he was terminated and home we came.  The economy, that is tough for young people fresh out of college is tough, but for older men with decades of experience it is brutal!  So, we tightened our belts and Louisville faded in importance compared to house payment, taxes, groceries and utilities.

On Monday my husband started a brand new job, one from which he from which he will eventually retire....in about 20 years.   He will  be home most evenings and every weekend,  a first for us since he has always traveled in his work.  That's one reason that I retired, so I coculd go along.  Now, we won't have to!

The Alamo, the seat of Texas Liberty

Today, to make my cup of good fortune runneth over, I found out that the next march will be in a place to which it is simple to get, via plane, train and automobile, the rental rooms can be had for a wide range of reasonable prices, it is a tourist mecca, is historically significant with a rich past, is a military epicenter, and is culturally and ethnically diverse.  They are coming to my home city of San Antonio!

I cannot express how excited I am that this is happening here next year!  I am so looking forward to meeting some of the people who have been my friends online and see old friends once again!  I want to look at Texas Legislators and Illinois Legislators and Missouri Legislators (the states to which I have a personal interest) and tell them why I am so not afraid of having my son find me that we did so 20 years ago!  And, that adoptees have EVERY right to their Original Birth Certificate.  

SMAAC Mothers  will have a booth there, with me in it, telling the legislators that we have every right to not only the Surrender Document and the Original Birth Certificate, which we should have received in the first place, but also, equal access as the adoptee and the adopters, to identifying information which, in our case would be the Amended Birth Certificate.  I would also like to respectfully submit the wild idea that SMAAC Mothers and other mothers of the past want justice for the criminal practices that were used to wrest their infants from them during the EMS, the time period upon which all current laws and practices are based and the foundation of the Adoption Industry as we know it today.

Boatrides on the Riverwalk

I am eager to show off my beautiful city.  Just one thing to remember about Texas in July....hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  Most of the year, San Antonio is warm, temperate and lovely.  However, true San Antonians try like the devil to limit their outside exposure during the month of July and August, because it is so hot and so humid.  Last year, at the tail end of the worst (2 years!) drought in history, the month of July was one solid month of 100+ degree days, followed immediately by more of them in August.  It was miserably hot, but the humidity was extremely low.  This year, while we have yet to reach 100, the humidity has been beastly, which makes it almost more miserable!   Who knows what the weather will be next year?  Who knows what the weather will be tomorrow?  We have an expression here.....if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a minute...after all, this is Texas, Darlin'!

Boots at North Star Mall

I so look forward to welcoming you all to Texas.  Grab your cowboy hats and your boots, your denims and your diamonds and ya'll come on down here to Beautiful San Antonio, one of the United States Top Unique Cities, home of the Alamo and the San Antonio Spurs, the location of the 2011 State Legislators's Conference and the next Adoptee Rights March with Mothers in the mix.  Now, lets kick up some dust! 

As we say down here....YEEEEE HA!!