A Mom in Middle School

Picking Parents

"Ros, I just want to make sure this is what you want before we go in," said Janet as we pulled into the parking lot.

"It is," I said.

We got out of the car and walked up to the Hope For Families adoption center. Janet opened the door for me and we went inside. A lady sat at the front desk, typing away on her computer.

"Hi, we're here to see Grace," Janet said.

"Oh, perfect. I'll go get her for you," said the desk lady.

She walked around the corner and came back a few minutes later with a woman around Janet's age. She smiled and shook both of our hands.

"It's nice to meet you both. You can come back with me," she said.

We walked around the corner and sat in an office. Grace sat at a table across from us. The table was full of different books and binders, full of hopeful families waiting to get a baby.

"So Roslyn, tell me why you're thinking about adoption?" Grace asked.

"Uh...because I'm thirteen. I literally can't take care of a baby. I want to finish school and go to college," I said.

"Very cool! What kind of career do you want?" she asked.

"Well I like to read so much that I started writing stories of my own. I kinda want to get a degree in literature and then like, write my own novels or teach creative writing classes, if that doesn't work out," I said.

"Wow. Interesting," Grace said. "So we don't start having meetings with families until you're in your third trimester, but we have a lot of different families you can take a look at." She slid the stack of books over to me. "Do you know what kind of family you're looking for? Any preferences?"

"One with a mom and a dad," Janet said.

I sat there quietly. I was thirteen. I was too heavily influenced by my previous, strict Christian family, and strict Christian school, where our pastor "didn't believe in two mommies and two daddies."

It was a completely different world back then. We didn't have any openly gay kids at Pine Crest. Same-sex couples could only get married in select states. A lot of Blake's bullies would call him gay in the hallways for the way he dressed and how he was into acting. It took him until his second year of college to finally come out because he was so, so ashamed.

I'm glad the world is a different place now, and I'm glad Janet and I are more accepting, tolerant people. We've grown. We've moved on from our past homophobia. I'm proud to not be that kind of person anymore. Blake and his fiance Kyle are happy about it, too.

"Okay. No problem," Grace said, taking one of the books away.

The way Grace just casually dismissed it—it absolutely baffles me now to think back on that day.

"Oh, and I want it to be a family where this is their first baby. I feel like it would make it more special that way," I said.

"Sure thing. That leaves you with these two books here," Grace said, taking the two binders and handing them to me.

Grace and Janet started talking and I flipped through the first book, completely tuning out all of the boring stuff in their conversation. On the fifth page, I found a page that said, "Burgess, Jacob and Ella-Mae." Jacob dressed in a fire-fighter's outfit stood out to me right away, because of how much he reminded me of my dad. I instantly started reading their profile.

Hi. We're Jacob and Ella-Mae Burgess. We're newlyweds who are unable to have children due to injuries Jacob sustained from a fire. Ella finished her degree in computer engineering and works for a local computer repair shop. Jacob is the Chief of the Oak County fire department.

While we may not have a salary comparable to some of the other waiting families, we still have a lot to offer a child! We live in a victorian-style house inherited to us by my grandfather. We have a pool and a treehouse. Ella's parents live in Florida, so we'd be taking our child to several beach and Disney trips. We—

"I want this couple! Jacob and Ella-Mae Burgess!" I said.

Grace and Janet looked over at me.

"Are you sure you want them, Ros? You've only been looking at the books for five minutes," Janet said.

"I'm sure. I definitely want them to be the parents of my baby," I said, staring at their photos and feeling a sense of happiness. A sense of relief.

These were the people that would be taking care of my baby. I was so excited.