Seasons of Love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.

Yep, I just got that stuck in your head. It's Pulitzer Prize level super catchy.

Most people think of the whole "Rent' aspect of that lyric, which is an obvious place to go, but as I was sitting here thinking I realized that 525,600 minutes is a lot of minutes. A years worth. And a lot can happen in a year.

Like this:

I posted this picture a year ago today to let the world know that we were going to adopt. 365 days. 52 weeks. 8760 hours. 525,600 minutes. Those two people in that picture right there thought that their lives were going to change and they were going to do something to change it. They had no idea what was going to happen to them. They knew they'd be spending 2 months worth of Saturday's in class. They knew they'd be having their home inspected, their fireplace inspected. They knew they'd have to  fill out really long questionnaires. That they would be fingerprinted, and FBI background checked. They knew they'd have to put all the medicine in a single box, put all the chemicals in a place nobody could reach. That they'd have to make a fire escape plan. That they'd have to have someone come into their home and ask the most personal questions anyone had ever asked them, and to answer them honestly. And there were things they didn't know, like the fact that they would have 2 children in their home for a month and that those 2 kids would have more of an impact than they had ever imagined. They had no idea how rewarding it was all going to be and how much they were going to learn about children, society, and each other. No clue.

And then that all that got turned upside down because what they really never saw coming actually came. They weren't prepared for the fact that something was happening in November and it wasn't just Thanksgiving. They had been preparing for something totally different and now they get to prepare in ways they never expected.

For Nathan. For their son. 

Their son. 

I look at that picture that was taken a year ago today and I think about how happy we were and how excited we were and I just kind of laugh at how they just have no idea what is about to happen to them. And they still don't. Not a clue. But look at their faces. They are about to do something amazing, and do it together, because there just isn't any other way they would want it.

A lot can happen in a year. If I write on this day next year I'll be writing as a father and I'll most likely fall asleep halfway through the blog and you'll just read "lkjllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllkklklkkkklkl" because I passed out and my unconscious face is resting on the keyboard. But a lot will have happened in a year. And hopefully I'll realize it.

If not, Facebook will just remind me.