I won't bore you with details about our meetings, etc., but this trip was significant in that I was finally able to tell my boss of my adoption plans. It's been a hard secret to keep from him, especially as we keep planning my work over the next year or so. The timing was great though, since the main purpose of the trip was to do some group planning for the next year.
I pulled Dave (my boss) aside first thing Monday morning. I think he was a bit spooked when I emailed him Sunday night to ask for his ear before we started our meetings. He admitted he was worried I was going to quit or something.
When I told him I was adopting he was so happy for me--happier than I imagined he would be, despite already being a fantastic boss. He even got over the shock when I told him I'm planning on taking 6 months parental leave. To manage that time he went to his boss and requested a contractor to cover my work for a few months. Apparently, when he told her of my plans he got a little teary-eyed. Isn't that sweet! I was very touched by that.
Tuesday night he took our team out for dinner at Foreign Cinema. They play movies on the courtyard wall.
It was one of my best meals ever. Dave drew the team's attention so that I could make my announcement to everyone there. The response was heartwarming. I have such great co-workers!!I had a great flight home--two seats to myself. Bliss (Note to self: book a Wednesday 7pm flight for next time). One more cool thing happened after that: I took a cab from the Calgary airport home. My cab driver's name is Soloman. He is Ethiopian from Eritrea. He studied accounting at University, so I hope he finds work in his field soon.
Anyway, I told him I am adopting from Ethiopia and he asked for pictures. I just happened to have some handy (thanks again Rhonda for the mini baby album). Soloman said that Biset is beautiful and that she looks like a friend's daughter. He also said Biset is a common name in Ethiopia (which is interesting since I have a hard time finding it referenced anywhere). The ET pronunciation is Beh-zay, I think. Soloman very graciously said that Biset is lucky. I told him that I think it is ME who is the really lucky one to be privileged to adopt an Ethiopian child. Being an immigrant, he said she will have a wonderful life full of all of life's possibilities. I could tell he truly felt happy for her to be coming to Canada. That was a sweet ending to my trip.
