today i announced at our staff meeting that we’re adopting.

everyone cheered (and i ducked my head behind my hands for some reason) and it felt really, really nice.

i mean, probably at least half of the people in the room (or maybe everyone?) had found out the news already, but since i hadn’t made a formal announcement, no one had felt comfortable talking about it.  and now it’s out in the open and i don’t have to feel secretive about the whole thing.

And their congratulations were so immediate and celebratory and… i think i got my first taste of what it feels like to announce to a group of friends that you’re pregnant.  i’ve told lots of individuals who’ve had wonderfully positive responses, but this was my first mass mention.

and i wasn’t exactly sure what words to use.  Do I say, “Everyone, I’d like to announce that J and I are most of the way through the paperwork that may one day result in a child joining our family!”?  How about the mildly too formal, “We’re in the process of adoption!”?

I finally settled on the simple, “we’re adopting!” which I’m always afraid that people will interpret to mean that we’ve already been matched and will be bringing a baby home in the imminent future.  But in the end, this was the simplest way to say it and I could “qualify” it later to alleviate any of their fears that I was planning to take a break for  12 weeks of family leave tomorrow.

Thank you, dear work friends, for being so happy for us.