“Our story started when I moved to London from California to pursue a master’s in Psychology and she had come from Spain to pursue her education in linguistic studies. We met through a mutual friend of ours and eventually, started to realize that I was spending a lot more time at my friend’s house than at mine. But who knew that it was not my friend’s company that held me back but my now wife. We started as a young romantic couple who loved traveling together and were always up for creating memories in each other’s lives. And we might just go on to say, it really was as picturesque and thrilling as portrayed in the movies.
And we had our plot twists too! When my master’s program came to an end and I had to go back to the US, I no longer had the visa status to stay there. However we learnt to navigate the time difference and skype calls became our constant. But there did come a time when that too got tiring. And here is where life threw in a sweet surprise!. My wife found this incredible opportunity to come to the US for a year. I remember the day she got her job in the US. It was my first day at work and when I checked my phone after a long day at work, I had 500 missed calls. Worrying what might have been at the other end, I became privy to the most amazing news that could have ever come to me; while she moved a continent for me, I decided to move a state up and we once again came together to create memories!
After realising that we couldn’t live without each other, we decided that it would be the right time to get married. Our families were super supportive of our relationship. One interesting fact is her family doesn’t speak English and my family doesn’t speak Spanish. So, the only way our mothers communicated was through photos and google translate. It was beautiful to see them bond only by looking at Recall and me happy together which speaks volumes about our relationship.
Eventually, we decided to move overseas. It gave us much more desirable options financially and growth-wise as well. We are inclined towards the educational sector and it was a tough choice for us to move here. The two of us started to get in touch with the schools we are working at present. Considering all the pros and cons for us as a family and our son’s future we flew seven seas away and made Hyderabad our new family.
Adoption was something we always considered. Honestly, there is no particular reason why we were always inclined towards adopting a baby. This decision of ours made different perspectives come out. We were told that we don’t have to be a blended family only because we are living in India. Truth be told, we had these adoption books and those are what made us feel uncomfortable. We wanted to eliminate this misconception of us saving the world by adopting or that we are doing god’s work by doing so. All that mattered to us as she is completing us and she is more of a gift to us than anything more. Another misconception that most of us have about adopting is how dramatic the experience is going to be. How there is going to be love at first sight with your child. It got me thinking that I must have been the first white male she has ever seen. She grew up in a house filled with women who looked like her.
What’s going to be different is, we had to see our daughter on a computer screen and choose yes as our option. But what makes my heart smile is, at the end of the day when I see my kids having each other’s back no matter what. It helps me believe there is still promise and hope in this world amidst the chaos we are living in.”