This is a repost from my teammate Joe's blog. Read Part 1.
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"Matt. You've got the floor," says Tamica (pronounced Tuh-mee-cuh). She is strong, decisive. She has been chosen to be our leader. She is our leader. "Hobbies? Talents? Passions?"
"I like to draw a bit," he says as calmly as he is in all things. He has a scrappy scruff on his face. "I don't get to do that as much as I'd like though. I love almost every sport… Movies. Movies are very spiritual for me. Movies and music."
"What do you mean? Like what movies?" someone says.
"Well like Spiderman is very spiritual for me." We go off on a tangent about good movies for a bit. We laugh. We let go. It's been a long, coffeeless week! We are slowly inching into the moment, into each other's company, as if it were a hot Jacuzzi on a cold day.
How do you introduce your family, especially if you've been adopted into it just hours before? I could tell you Matt has light, blue-grey eyes, or that Lauren and Heather both graduated from Texas A&M two weeks ago. I could tell you Stacy is an INFP or that Dez is a singer-songwriter from Canada. I could tell you I am happy with them, that I enjoy their company, and am excited to share my story, my future, my life with them. Would that help? Would that paint a sufficient picture?
"Alright. Stacy! Your turn."
"I like to sing!" she says sweetly. "But I'm not a great singer…" Stacy has brown hair which falls to her shoulders in ringlets. She snorts when she laughs. Every time. She laughs a lot. The best is when everyone stops laughing at the same time and then she lets out her little snort. It cracks us up.
Next is Heather.
"My favorite Disney movie is Tarzan," she says. Heather wears glasses which darken in the sun and has a warm, laid back smile.
"Tarzan? Why? That's sort of random."
"It speaks to my condition. I was adopted by a family very different from mine."
"Wait, you were adopted?"
"Yeah. When I was twelve." As she straightens her glasses, her gold class ring glints in the soft light. (By the way, this week I learned that class rings are a big deal for Texas A&M grads. I told one A&M grad that only one of my friends got a class ring. He told me only one of his friends didn't get a ring.)
There is a white flower in a vase on the floor to Heather's left. It is a white spider mum, as Stacy told me later. It explodes from its stem with snow-colored petals like a mini-firework. It is beautiful against the dark brown of the couch and wood floor, like hope, like dreams.
I feel like I am holding the flower to my face, looking deep into its bud. I have never seen a flower like this. Its petals brush my nose and my cheek.
"I'm a sports fanatic," Tamica says. "Not to watch but to play. I love games, board games. Sometimes I get too competitive and people have to say, 'Alright. Down girl.' I love country music. That started when I became a Christian. The whole, 'I love my wife. I love my dog. I love my truck.' That whole hometown feel was really good for me. But I also love hip hop. I love to get down and dirty, too."
To be continued…
Read Part 3.
