Thursday, February 3, 2011

Introducing Petunia & Forever Family Day

So the whole pseudonym thing seems kind of silly, but I’m going with it in an effort to protect the innocent—at least they will be protected if anyone ever happens to read this who does not know us personally! I have about 30 nicknames for my daughter—Bug (as in Snugga Bug, Hugga Bug, Love-a Bug girl), Lovey Girl, and Petunia being among those that get used most frequently. When I gave my 5-year-old daughter the option of choosing from among her nickname’s for use on this blog, she went with Petunia.  Petunia is not a name I would wish on anyone as their given name, it seems more fitting for a guinea pig, but we read it in a book once (oh who am I kidding, we saw it on a show, but if it makes you feel any better, it was probably on PBS) and she thought it was hilarious, so a new nickname was born, along with the associated rhymes (Petunia, Po-tat-a, I love you, A Lotta, etc.) because that's how we roll in our family. 
Amp (my husband, aka, absent-minded professor), Petunia and I celebrated our Forever Family Day recently by going for a bike ride at the Biltmore Estate. It was a glorious 60 degree day in January, and it was wonderful. Until we went out to dinner, and Petunia’s late bed-time the night before caught up with us. Which is fitting I guess. We’re a family after all, and not all family celebrations are idyllic.
Our family of three was formed when we adopted Petunia from China four years ago. In adoption-speak many people call the day you are united with your child for the first-time, Gotcha Day. To me, “gotcha” sounds too much like something you say when you’ve played a prank on someone. Maybe it gets at my insecurities about parenting—“Ha Ha! I’m going to be your mom! The jokes on you!”
We call it Forever Family Day and even Forevermore Family Day because I don’t want to deny the part of Petunia that is Chinese, and that existed before we knew her. And I especially don’t want to deny that in a remote mountain village in China, two people with really excellent DNA created this wondrous child. And I have a strong suspicion that they, and perhaps others, ache for her every winter at the time of her birth. How could they not?

4 comments:

  1. I love the Forevermore Family Day (and also thinkg that "Gotcha Day" sounds a little too coniving and Tricked Ya!). Sounds like a lovely day bike riding. I'm so happy to know your family of three, and look forward to knowing you even more. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. That is so sweet!! Hope you all have a wonderful day!! God is great and War Eagle!!!

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  3. Wow! Great blog - and a nice, honest post. Enjoying it!

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  4. Love it! I make up rhymes and songs with my kids silly nicknames too. I love the acronym AMP - that's clever. I'm suscribing to you right now! xo

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