Still summing up the year 2006!

Except for a yearly vacation with my husband, usually around the time of our anniversary, most of my travels now revolve around visiting my sons or adoption conferences. Last year, I attended more adoption conferences than ever before and throughly enjoyed learning and mingling with other triad members.

The conferences:

1) Adoption: The Spiritual Journey for the Human Family
Location: St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York, NY.

This conference was very special for me for a variety of reasons. It was held in a gorgeous historical stain-glass filled church in New York City. I am very enamored with historical old buildings and St. Bartholomews was a treat for me.

Another reason this particular conference was such a treat for me was I had a chance to meet a young birth mom that I had gotten to know on-line at the forums at adoption.com. Claudia is one of the most energetic and talented moms I have ever met. She is creative, spunky and we had a fun day, including a side-trip at lunch to a frou-frou chocolate shop.

Last but not least, I had a chance to visit with the son that I raised and his wife. They showed my the City from the perspective of those who live there. I got the royal treatment from them, and had a fantastic time.

2) AAC (American Adoption Conference) Regional Conference in Portland, Oregon - This conference was my first AAC Conference and it was an eye-opener for me. In addition to birth parents, this conference included adoption professionals, adoptees and adoptive parents. I learned alot about search and reunion from panel discussions and small group sessions. The side benefit to this conference was a quick trip afterwards to visit my son in Seattle.

Although my visit with my son was only four hours or so long, it was worth the extra expense to see him. When I stepped off the train and saw his broad grin, I thought that alone was worth the trip! We spent the entire time outdoors, having lunch and then sitting on the beach chatting. Some topics about adoption that we had never touched on before came up and that seemed some sort of a break-through in my eyes.

3) The CUB (Concerned United Birthparents)Retreat in Florida was a relaxing, educational and healing experience. In a future blog, I will go into further detail about the benefits of connecting with other birth parents.