Bookshelf: Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other by Scott Simon

This week I've been reading a pristine hardcover copy of "Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption" by Scott Simon (author and host of NPR's Weekend Edition), along with a few other books...a galley copy of my friend and fellow Redbud Writer Anita Lustrea's "What Women Tell Me: Finding Freedom from the Secrets We Keep" and a beat up paperback copy of "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight:  An African Childhood" by Alexandra Fuller that I got on half.com.

I'm trying to hurry through Simon's book -- but every time I sit down with it, I come across a line, a description, a passage that makes me stop short. Because one of my best friends has adopted three times from China, in some ways I feel like I've made that trip myself. And I've been there on the other end, watching from outside of customs at O'Hare for the doors to slide open and the arrival of a new little person into our extended, chosen family. A little person for whom we've waited so long.

So much for hurrying through the book...in spite of eagerly anticipating my friend's reaction to this book, reading Simon's descriptions of everything from his daughters' reactions to being placed in their parents' arms for the first time ("room service") to his articulate (and fresh) exploration of transracial adoption is an experience worth savoring.

Here's a little taste of the book, to whet your appetite. In fact, this is how the book begins:  

"Adoption is a miracle. I don't mean just that it's amazing, terrific, and a wonderful thing to do. I mean that it is, as the dictionary says, 'a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.'"

Read more about Scott Simon and his work here.