It's 950 words.
950 words about you, your family, your life, your story and your hopes.
It's your chance and your way to reach out to an unknown woman that you wish will land into your life.
It's your way to give a glimpse of your life, your hopes and your heart to the mother of your child.
For us, it was the hardest part of the all adoption process.
We didn't mind the documents, the interview, the questionnaires, the exams (well, may be a little?).
But wow, the Dear Birth Mother Letter was tough.
It is so hard to speak to someone that you don't know. Especially if this someone is the one that may bring you the BIGGEST gift in the whole life...What can you possibly say?!
Well, here is our Birth Mother Letter.
This actually was our first draft, not the final version (you will find the final version here if you click over the "A letter for you" button), but it really came from our heart!
Ciao, Hola!
We are Alice and Leo,
This is definitely the most important letter that we will
ever write, and we are so thankful that you are taking the time to read it! Our
thoughts are with you as you consider open adoption, and we wish you peace,
strength and love. Although we don’t know you, we know that it takes great
courage and tons of love to consider open adoption, and we deeply admire you
for that and we hope you have good people around you to help you before you
make your final decision. This
letter will offer you a glimpse of our lives, hopes, and dreams. We would love
to hear about your life, your hopes, and your dreams!
US:
Ciao! We are Alice and Leo,
We are from Torino, an Italian city at the bottom of the
Alps. We have known each other since we were 11 years old, but we had to meet
twice to realize we were meant to be together. We went to the same middle
school, but lost touch over time. Ten years later, on a spring evening, we
accidentally met in the street. We spent hours walking, chatting, and laughing
until dawn. That day we held hands while walking home… and we never let them
go.
Three years later we got married, hugged our families and
friends, and crossed the ocean to start a new adventure in New York City, where
Leo studied for his PhD. Here we found new challenges, new experiences, new
friends, and the proof of how strong is our bound and our relationship.
Now we are hoping to welcome a child in our family to share
and multiply our love and our joy. Since we heard about open adoption we had no
doubt, this was the right path for us! Open Adoption doesn’t exist in Italy,
and this is really what we want. We feel honored and lucky to get the
opportunity to build a life long relationship with you. We can’t wait to
welcome you into our life!
OUR FAMILIES, OUR FRIENDS, OUR ROOTS:
Our family is all around the world, and we do an extensive
use of video chat, Skype, and any device that helps us to stay in touch with
our beloved! Leo’s parents grew up in Argentina, and much of his family still
lives there. His close family lives in Italy and in France, and when they
gather together for celebration is a potpourri of languages! As a result Leo
speaks Italian, Spanish, French and English, and we hope to pass the love for the
languages to our child.
Alice’s family is from the northwest part of Italy. They are
originally from a small village in the mountains, so gardening, skiing, and
hiking are big activities in the family. Alice’s dad will definitely teach our
child how to snowboard and rock climb!
Both our families have many traditions that we can’t wait to
share with our child, like games, songs, nursery rhymes… and traditional food.
We believe that good home-made food is a gesture of love, and we highly value
the opportunity to gather together around the table to share stories, laughs
and memories.
We are extremely lucky, because there is a loving family and
tons of amazing friends in Italy that can’t wait to spoil our baby… and on this side of the Atlantic Ocean we
can count on many good friends too. In the last 6 years we got to meet amazing
persons, true friends from all around the world that support us and share with
us the good and the bad
OUR HOME:
We live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a family-oriented and
diverse neighborhood, with so many opportunities for children to have fun and
take advantage of the community! Our house is 4 blocks from a beautiful park,
and we are 15 minutes away from the children’s activities at the public
library, the colorful botanical garden and the zoo!
We love our neighborhood. It’s safe, vibrant, multicultural
and we have many friends living close by that often join us for a nice picnic,
a movie or a simple walk around the park!
We go back to Italy quite often. Torino for us still means
home and family, and it is good to feel at home in two different places! We
hope our child will share the same sense of belonging.
OUR CAREERS:
We are both very passionate about our jobs. Leo works as a professor and has a very
flexible schedule that will allow him to spend time with our child. He loves to
teach and he enjoys the research process… he likes to face problems, look for
new answer and possible solutions.
Alice works in a progressive school, where she teaches 2s,
3s, and 4s, and she collaborates with a publishing company. So when she is not
in her classroom, you may find her with a picture book in her hands!
We are terribly lucky because we love our current work, but
we also have an Italian approach to life. We are hard workers, but we both
believe that nothing is more important than family, friends, and fun. We like
to lay back and relax, and we always save time and energy for us, our travels,
and our hobbies.
OUR FUN!
There are so many things that we like, where to start?!
Well, we like food, Leo loves cooking and trying new
recipes, and Alice is addicted to the good old style Italian food.
We love to have guests! Our doors are always open and our
house is a safe port for all our traveling friends, who often visit.
Hospitality is a gift that we strongly value.
We love to spend time with our friends and our family,
whether it is playing board games or going camping, watching a movie or
visiting a new city. We love to travel, there are so many places that we still
want to visit! We hope to spend time as a family in different countries, we
wish our child will get the chance to learn different languages, meet different
cultures, and get a taste of different ways to live all around the world.
Alice enjoys hiking, swimming, taking pictures… and reading
a good book!
Leo is a passionate runner, hiker and biker. We both love
challenges, and travels. We are looking forward to share the adventures that
are ahead with our child.
LEO BY ALICE
Leo is my buddy, my rock, my friend and my love. He is
brilliant, ironic, has a quirky sense of humor and always knows how to make me
laugh. He is full of energy and adventurous. He loves to run, hike, swim, and
can’t wait for a good bike ride with our child on the little seat. He is also
creative, and playful. I can see him teaching our child how to make towers and
tunnels on the seashore, and build a tent in the garden. They’ll spend hours
playing with sticks and sheets and tools! He always takes joy from the little
things around him, he is patient, an amazing listener, nurturing and dedicated.
But most of all, he has a great heart. I know he will be a fabulous dad!
ALICE BY LEO
The thing that
still amazes me about Alice, and the reason why I fell in love with her in the
first place, is the way in which she can have such a funny, tender and loving
soul, while at the same time being so strong, and passionate about her ideas.
She is all I need to call a place home, but she never stops being
engaging, bringing new topics and books in the house to discuss with me day
after day.
She is active
and inventive, and involves me in a whirlwind of activities, from tours of
rooftop gardens to roller-derby games.
She is a
dedicated preschool teacher, and every time I visit her at work the parents of
her pupils stop me to tell me how grateful their are for having her, and how
lucky I should consider myself. She is always so happy to share with me
the big discoveries of her small students, and I know she will be an incredible
steward for our child’s own exploration of life. She is also an avid
collector of children picture books. I can wait to find out which will be the
first one she will share with our child, and which will be their preferred
one (for me it’s Bark, George, but I think she prefers the Mo Willems’
books.). I imagine them singing the Little Fish song together, and
exploring the city in search of the best photo of a corner Deli. I am
sure she will be the most amazing, joyful and nurturing mom.
No comments:
Post a Comment