Moments of Delight, pt. 1

I had a long day today at the office and then headed to the other side of my county to attend an orientation for a local volunteer program. I sped through a few podcasts on the long commute to the orientation and then back to my side of the county an hour later.

I adore podcasts. I listen to them at 1.5 speed so I can run through more content. I listen to politics, history, social justice, comedy, crime, mental health, meditation, religion and story-telling podcasts. You ever need a podcast recommendation, I’m your girl.

I listened to this week’s episode of This American Life which was called The Show of Delights. Gosh I love this episode and it got me to thinking what things in my life have I thought were delightful and how will I pursue delights moving forward.

Now I could go back to still being delighted by the red, white and blue dress I had on at the age of 3. It was the year of the bicentennial and the summer dress had Betsy Ross on it and my hair had patriotic ribbons in it. It *had* to be the 4^th of July, I mean really mom? It is one of my earliest memories and I delight in that memory every time it rises to my consciousness.

I could start there, but I’ll avoid boring you and focus on some of the delights I had from the beginning of my adoption journey.

• November 2012 – when I went to an adoption conference and this agency featured this beautiful Black couple who had adopted an older child talking about their experiences. Adoption is often so White, and I remember being soooo happy to see this couple. I ended up going with that agency, with that program. The mom and I are buds now.
• The day I dropped the agency application in the mail.
• The day the agency sent me Hope’s profile. It was the first I had ever received. I opened it and just knew. I don’t know how I knew but I knew.
• The day Hope and I were actually matched.
• The moment I saw her the first time in person.
• The day I graduated from my doctoral program and Hope was there. It was my first Mothers Day weekend.
• The day we received her passport.
• This time when we were in Montreal in a little French café and Hope was just adorable.
• The time I bought unnecessary fudge at an ice cream shop on Martha’s Vineyard and paid the super cute 15 year old boy $5 to casually deliver it to Hope outside. Turns out his dad was working the counter and we both had a great laugh. Since the first visit EVERYDAY on the island, Hope insisted we get our evening cone at THIS shop because the boy was so cute. (Frfr, he was adorable, had me and Sister K wondering if he had an older brother or if his dad was similarly fine and possibly single?)
• The time Hope participated in a teen summit in a panel talking about social justice with her BLM shirt on.
• The time Hope was on the program at the Unitarian church we sometimes attend; she was so graceful and confident.
• The absurdly overpriced dinner at the adorable café we had with Grammy in Switzerland; we laughed and just had fun.
• The time Hope told the lady at the supermarket that her mom was famous. She had recently googled me for the first time and there was a lot online about the work I do IRL. She was proud and I was so touched that she was.
• The first time she asked if she could go hang out with some friend from church. I was so happy for her and for me.

Gosh there’s so much more that I’ll have to have a part two!

What has delighted you on your own journey? Do you ever sit and just think about it?