Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You've heard it's a wonderful place, you've read many guidebooks and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.
So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait--and wait--and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax. You'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!" After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."
"By BOAT!" you say. "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane."
So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.
It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.
Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.
People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are about to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy."
You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.
By Diane Armitage printed in the April 21, 1995 "Dear Abby" column.
9 comments:
Og MY gosh Lauren! I Loved this article...even though we did eventually get our "flight" this simply put all of those emotions we went through with adoption in such a good way! Who knows, we still may take that "boat" someday! I will print this to keep in our adoption binder! Thank you
Thank you for posting that Lauren! It made me cry because it is so dead on. :) I was going to ask you if I could put it on my blog, but since it's from a different author, I'll take the liberty of stealing it now. :) Hope you're well.
Wow Lauren. I love that. That seems to hit the nail on the head.
That is pretty cool.
Hmmmm... maybe I need a rowboat? Or I'll have to swim there.
As someone who is taking the boat, can I just say that is so dead on! What a perfect analagy!
Lauren, this is really beautiful. I'm not even in line for a boat OR plane, but it really touched me. It must be a pretty cool experience for you to work on the boat dock. Thanks for posting this.
...er, or maybe you're the driver? Or the coast guard? I don't really know. My point was just what an amazing and intense experience it must be. You've got a neat job.
I don't know you, but I found your blog on Jessica and Dave's, and I really enjoyed this post. I am adopted, and so are all my sisters. The stories of how we got here rock the world and each one is soo different. We had a few boat trips end early and that was hard, but with each successful trip back it's been so beyond amazing.
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