United Airlines recently announced a new benefit of their FF program...you can trade in a million miles for your very own, shiny new asian baby....hahahahaha...just kidding - the post below is actually rather serious and not full of jokes.
On my trans-continental flight yesterday there were 5 asian babies (small infants) on the plane. At first I only noticed 1 or 2 of them so I figured it as a family traveling with their new babies. Later I noticed people signing very formal looking documents written in korean - so I assumed that they were immigration or visa papers. After I de-planed I was heading towards the Airtran when I noticed a slew of "it's a girl" and "it's a boy" balloons, a crowd of people and flashes from multiple cameras. What I had just witnessed was the ending ceremony of an overseas adoption.
I felt strange and just stared...in many ways I was embarrased for looking, because it felt like I was intruding or spying - like when people pause a little too long when passing by your living room window - wondering what family moments may lay inside. It was amazing to watch these families accepting their new additions as if they had birthed them themselves....it made me wonder what their individual journeys were that led them all to the Newark airport on a tuesday evening to accept their babies. It was touching and sad all at the same time....every single happy family there probably had a very difficult and emotional ordeal to get there.
I have friends with children who were conceived naturally, with the assistance of medicine, friends who have adopted, step-children, decisions for no children, those who are faced with uncertainty and those whose options are limited because of their own biology....every one of their stories to be a couple +1 ran through my head as I watched these new families unfold. Someone else decided they didn't want this gaggle of asian babies and someone else snatched them up. Beautiful and Sad all at the same time...
4 comments:
Hey, did you get me one?
I knew you'd be the first one to ask, but no, it appeared as though they were all spoken for.
You can, however, have any of mine.
If Jason were telling the story, it would be "You'll never believe it - there were 5 screaming babies on the flight and they were all seated next to me and the parents just looked clueless, as though they had never quieted their screaming kid before!" It was nice to get the warm fuzzy version of events :)
true true..but jason's stories do sound more exciting...if sometimes unbelievable
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