The Day It Was More

I have been thinking about this day for a long time. And then suddenly, it was here.

For us, today is a big day.

Today is 1) Fernando's birthday. And birthdays are always big. 2) And today marks the day Violet has been with us longer than she's been anywhere else.

She was in Ethiopia for 11 months. And as of this morning, she's been with us for 11 months and 1 day.

To me, this is a bigger milestone than her first or second birthdays, or even the "one year since she came home" date coming up in April.

After today, for the rest of her life, it will always be that she's been with us longer. In some weird way, I feel like we crossed a finish line today. Like today marks the day the adoption journey part ends and the "she's just our daughter" part begins. I know that's wrong in about twenty thousand ways, but that's the best way I can describe how I'm feeling. I really, truly, honestly am excruciatingly proud of Violet's story - I love that she is adopted. But I'm ready for that to cease being the defining conversation that surrounds her. I'm ready for the world to see her as Violet, our daughter... not Violet, our adopted daughter.

I know this is making it sound like I want to put the adoption out of my mind. I don't. I'm just saying that up until now, Violet's relationship with everyone in our world has been based on her situation more than her personality. And I understand that had to be the case for a while, out of necessity, curiosity, novelty and if nothing else, for educational purposes for those around us.

But it's time to take that next step. She's here to stay, folks, and she's gonna rock your world long after you've forgotten that she was adopted.

Today is such a good day.