Adopted

Chapter 19

Sheri seemed pretty confident that everything was fine and was happy to leave us.  She said she'd be in touch for another visit within the month.  Brendon reminded her we'd be out on tour, and she said she'd make arrangements if he could use Skype or some other video conferencing software, she'd be happy with that, and she would try to work it for a time when it would be convenient for all of us. 

The rest of the week was pretty boring.  Sarah took me shopping for more clothes, saying despite what we'd bought, I still didn't have enough in her opinion.  Plus she said with touring, I was going to need clothes because washing was done infrequently. 

Of course, there was also the press release:

-------------------------- PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --------------------------

PANIC! AT THE DISCO'S BRENDON URIE WELCOMES A NEW MEMBER - TO HIS FAMILY

AP - Panic! At The Disco frontman, Brendon Urie, and his wife, Sarah, have announced they are the proud parents of a bouncing... teenager. 

After years of claiming they weren't going to have children, Urie and his wife recently adopted a 13-year-old girl from the Laurel Canyon Children's Home. 

The Laurel Canyon Children's Home on Pine St. houses up to 60 children ranging in ages from birth to 18. They hold an Adoption Day at the end of every month, and last month the Uries attended the day and came across the 13-year-old.

"She was on her own in their common room and, being the oldest at the Home, didn't think she'd be interesting enough to prospective parents," said Urie.  Prospective parents who come to the Home are generally are interested in adopting younger children.

"Jessica caught our attention right away. She was sitting on her own, watching a bad movie and flipping through a magazine.  She didn't realize we'd come into the room and was mocking the celebrities in the magazine. We were taken in instantly by her candor."

The Uries spoke with the young girl for a few moments and were impressed by her wit. 

"She didn't realize who we are when we met her," Urie said. "She was unimpressed when we spoke with her, and we didn't mention who we actually are until much later."

The Matron of the Home spoke highly of the young girl, and the Uries were confident in their decision to adopt the teenager.  

"Even after we were told of some specific health issues she'll have, it just cemented our decision.  She's a girl who is going to need a family around her during the hard times, and we are more than thrilled to become her parents," said the singer, whose band begins a four-and-a-half-month tour in mid-July. The Uries plan to bring their daughter along on the tour for the summer before Sarah and their daughter return to Los Angeles for the beginning of the school year, where the girl will be entering seventh grade. 

------------------------------ PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -------------------------------

What I really liked about the press release was that my name wasn't mentioned.  Brendon told me that wasn't going to stay that way, once interview requests came in.  And he was right.  After the release came out our first interview request came from People magazine.  The same magazine I'd been reading when Sarah and Brendon came to the orphanage.  Brendon said he trusted them, and so we granted them an interview.  

They came on the Thursday before Brendon's parents were supposed to come to visit, and it was actually kind of fun. 

They started by taking some pictures of us, one where we were pretending to walk the dogs down our street, one of the three of us on the steps to the house, Brendon and Sarah's arms around me, one of Brendon teaching me the guitar in the studio (which he said he was going to do a lot more on tour, too), one of me playing with the dogs, one of me in my room, and one of the three of us by the pool, Brendon and I in the pool and Sarah at the side laughing. 

"Jessica, how does it feel to have a famous father?" the interviewer asked. 

"I don't know," I replied. "He's just my dad."

Brendon said we'd buy the issue when the article came out, and we could maybe frame it as a family keepsake. 

Also during the week, Brendon introduced me to his fans on Instagram Live. 

"Hello you beautiful people," he said, while I sat just off-camera in his studio. "I want you all to meet someone really special."

He motioned for me to come into the frame and I slid over on the drummer's stool he'd pulled out from his own set for me to sit on.

"Some of you may have already heard since the press release went out, but I want you all to meet the newest member of the Urie household. This is my daughter, Jessica."

"Hi," I waved into the camera. 

"Jess is 13, and as it turns out, we adopted her on her birthday. She's an amazing kid, really smart, and Penny and Bogart both love her, so we definitely made a good choice adopting her. Some of you might be coming to our upcoming shows, and you might get to meet her if you're lucky."

The comments started coming in, and Brendon answered some of them. There were so many people that he couldn't answer all of them. 

"Why did you adopt a teenager?" someone asked. 

"Ah, good question. You guys have an idea of what my life is like on the road.  Sarah and I wanted someone who would be able to fit into that lifestyle and as cute as babies are, we wanted someone who could tell us when things are overwhelming. Babies don't talk much, and Jess, well, she's a special kid. And she needs a family.  Not to say all kids in foster care don't need families, but Jess, she really needed a family."

"What school is Jess going to?" 

"We haven't decided on that yet, and even if we did, you all know I wouldn't be telling you over social media, but nice try."

"Jess, how does it feel to have Brendon as your dad?"

"Jess, that one's for you," Brendon said. 

"It's cool, I guess," I said. "I mean, he's a good dad and Sarah's a good mom."

"Do you call them Mom and Dad?"

"Uh, no..." I said. 

"And we support that. Jessica had parents before, and we've only been her parents for, like, a week, so if she ever wants to call us Mom and Dad, we're totally for that, but not until she's comfortable and ready."

We took a few more questions and then Brendon ended the Live. He smiled and told me I did a good job and we went into the house.