Wrapped in a circle of love

“I am knitting a pink wool scarf for my oldest child. Nothing new in the way of knitting, except this is for a daughter I have never seen. I don’t even know her name. On her birth certificate, I filled in the blank, “Tiffany Jo.” I’m certain it was changed.”

Above is the first paragraph in the draft of my latest book, as yet untitled. Writing this book is my most challenging endeavor. Thankfully, God has signed on as my co-creator.

My story is about adoption: Finding and celebrating the reunion with my birth daughter after placing her in a closed adoption, and the recent birth of my adopted granddaughter through an open adoption. 

After giving birth to my daughter in 1966, I started college, “moving on” as I was told to do. However, I did not move on. I grieved, silently, for 42 years. 

In those first months of higher education, my college roommate taught me how to knit. Sitting next to me she often counted, in her native language, each stitch - un, deux, trios, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, etc. From that first row of knitted stitches, wrapping wool around two sticks, has comforted me throughout my adulthood. I am forever grateful to my dear friend.

My book, again as yet untitled, will knit together family, friends, spirituality, the joy of reunion and creativity, and show how we are all connected through synchronicity. 

Below is my column that was published in the Laguna Woods Globe. This explains why I retired/rewired from The Orange County Register.

June 4, 2015

Globe editor leaves post to take a new path

For the past 16 years, I have been an editor, reporter and columnist at the Orange County Register. I am grateful for all I have learned and experienced. As anyone knows, who has ever worked in a newsroom, no day is the same; news happens 24/7.

What I have witnessed in the Laguna Woods bureau for the past 4 plus years is that it is never too late to fulfill a dream, even if it terrifies you. My dream has been to write a book about adoption, all sides of the triangle. So to accomplish this challenging endeavor, I am leaving my position as the city editor of the Laguna Woods Globe on June 12.

What has prompted this sudden departure is this past spring I experienced another side of adoption.

On March 13, beautiful Emma Janee Virata-Potter, weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces, 21 inches long, became my granddaughter, a long-awaited gift. I was fortunate to be at the birth along with my son Andrew, his husband Michael and his mother Tita, in Oklahoma City. At the hospital, nurses named our assigned room, “the daddies and the grans.”

You see, Emma has been born into an open adoption. Throughout her life she will know her biological family, through visits, photos and that wonderful invention FaceTime. The daddies didn’t want the birth mother, like me, to see her baby for the first time 42 years later.

In a December 2011 Globe column, I wrote about a miracle of love journey, “Some day wrapped in a blanket of love.” At the time, my son and his husband had just joined with an agency with the intention of adopting a baby. They went through months of weekend seminars, home study visits, and physicals, parenting classes, all with grace. When their website went “live,” we waited for a pregnant woman to choose them to be the parents of her baby.

While my daughters, Juliet and Marilyn, and I knitted blankets, we prayed for a baby to be placed in the arms of these wonderful men. We had to wait almost four years; however, our prayers were answered to absolute perfection.

Miss Emma has brought so much joy to our family. She smiles all the time, doesn’t even fuss when I dress her up in sparkly pink ruffled dresses and socks and big hair bows. My little princess loves lots of bling, just like me. My husband and I are grateful that Emma’s daddies allow us to stay in their San Diego home almost every weekend – so far no complaints.

I hope you will follow me on this journey of writing a book about my experience with adoption. If you have any comments or you have been touched by adoption, feel free to send me an email at barbarawrites4love@gmail.com 
Your emails will not be published.