Karen's Journey

The New York State Senate passed a no-fault divorce bill on recently, moving the Empire State within reach of aligning with the other 49 states in this country. The bill needs to pass the Assembly before reaching the governor's desk. I've been working for many years to try to bring this about. While I have some misgivings about this particular bill, I'm hopeful that something is better than the current antiquated system that allows one spouse to hold another hostage to an unhappy and unhealthy marriage. While this may seem to be off-topic in regards to my adoption journey, the road I have traveled has been part of this journey In pursuit of a more just and humane divorce system, I have testified before several different audiences -- including the New York State Women's Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, members of the New York State Legislature, and on national television on Fox's Morning Show with Mike and Juliet -- over the past three or four y

Hiking in the Adirondacks while waiting for our referral In late July last year, shortly after receiving word that we had officially been placed on the wait list for a referral, I sent out an email to family and friends letting them know of our milestone. In that email I wrote, "...somewhere in Ethiopia there's a little boy making his way to us as we are making our way to him." I had no way of knowing then how sadly prophetic my words were. The details of Teshale's story are not ours to share at this time, but I can say that our lives so neatly dovetailed that one might be tempted to say it was fate, karma, God's will, coincidence, a force of the universe, or whatever one wants to name it. I can't help but recoil from the realization that our hope and delight in finally getting to the status of "officially waiting" were so aligned with our son's loss. I waited patiently for the first six weeks or so. It was summer -- there was a garden to tend, t