Translations

Last Friday I received a translation of Libby Doodle Doo’s referral documents. It was quite an experience.

In short, the records I received on Libby Doodle Doo are far more detailed and richer than anything I’ve ever had on Little Zo Peep. The person who wrote them took great care to capture vivid details about Libby’s development, her history and her everyday life.

Last Friday my friend Helen had lunch with me and we sat side by side as she read. I was moved by her reactions as she read the text to herself. At times she told me how she got chills reading one passage. At another point she became emotional and said she may cry. In another section she told me that her blood was boiling because she was so angry.

Between these reactions, she relayed the gist of the text – but I couldn’t help but think that I was only receiving the Cliff Notes version – not because Helen was with-holding information from me, but because much of the text did not easily translate.

The next day I took the documents (and the beautiful photos of Libby Doodle Doo) to Little Zo Peep’s Mandarin class. At the end of the session, the teacher looked at the documents. As she read them she imparted information almost identical to what Helen had told me the day before. As she handed the documents back to me, she commented, “This is very beautifully written.”

Have you ever met someone who learned a foreign language so that he could read an important work of literature in its native tongue– The Iliad in Greek, Tolstoy in Russian, etc? That how I felt about Libby Doodle Doo’s documentation. As someone who probably will never read Mandarin, I fear that I will never fully understand the richness of what was written on these pages.

Brian Friel, an Irish playwright whose work I really admired, once said, “It is not the literal past, the "facts" of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language. "

This experience has solidified my resolve to have my girls learn to speak and read their native language. Perhaps someday Libby Doodle Doo will be able to read her referral documents and understand the profound subtext that lies in these pages. I hope so.

Now many of you – no doubt – are curious about what the documents said.

I know that different adoptive families have different philosophies about what should be shared from a child’s past. Some believe that all this information is the property of the child and should never be shared with anyone. Other freely share every detail. My philosophy falls somewhere in the middle. I will share personal items (details of her finding, etc) with close family and friends. The more general issues I will share here.

Overall, Libby Doodle Doo is progressing very well. She is a hearty eater who has been eating solid food since her third month (I got a detailed menu of her favorite foods). She giggles and acts excited whenever her primary caretaker comes into the room (a good sign that she has bonded). She sleeps well and is hitting all of her developmental targets. To sum it up -- she is extremely healthy and is described as a pleasant, happy baby.

I can't hold her in my arms soon enough.