I am blessed to work at a place that gives me the week
between Christmas and New Years off, and that it’s paid! Not only that, my dad’s birthday falls during
this week, so it’s been our tradition for me to take him to lunch (just the two
of us) on his birthday! Since I have
become a mama, obviously, K has joined us and my dad loves it even more now, I
think.
So, as per our usual, we went to a late breakfast/early
lunch and it was his choice of where to go. My dad, being the decadent guy that
he is, chose IHOP! When I asked him why,
he simply said, “I think K will like it because you can see the train tracks
from the window, and I like the food, why?”
I wasn’t’ berating his choice, I just didn’t think that this would be
his choice since I was footing the bill!!!
But as I have learned, everything happens for a reason. K does love the view from IHOP. He can see all the cars on the 6 lane road and the railroad crossing—it’s like a little bit of heaven for him! Yet, this time was different. As we were walking out, this woman approached me and asked me where my son was born! I could tell by looking at her that she was from the Motherland, but wasn’t sure if she was Ethiopian, Eritrean or Somalian (not saying they all look alike, so don’t send me hate mail, I just didn’t want to assume anything!!!). After I told her he was born in Ethiopia, she said, “I am from Ethiopia too! Can I ask his name?”
Fast forward 15 minutes.
It was an amazing conversation in the parking lot of IHOP. Come to find out, her son shares K’s birth
name and she lives locally. She was
stoked to discover that there was a little Ethiopian community right here in Orange County. I shared with her about all of our friends
and that we were celebrating Timket in January and that we had just recently
eaten at Tana Restaurant in Anaheim
and that many of us have gone to culture class in LA.
We exchanged numbers and she hugged both K and me. As with most of my encounters with Ethiopians,
it was beautiful! But, it was not only a
wonderful encounter; it was fantastic for my dad to see it as well. Since my dad didn’t travel with me to pick up
K in Ethiopia,
he hasn’t seen much native, adult Ethiopian reaction to my adoption. He has asked me, on several occasions, how
Ethiopians feel about Westerners adopting “their” kids, so I know it’s a
concern of his. He is very aware of my
feelings about making sure that not only K, but others KNOW that he is
ETHIOPIAN-American! He was so happy to have had the chance to talk with her and
hear her thoughts.
As we pulled out of the parking lot at IHOP, we were all
grins and basically shared the same sentence over and over—wow! Who woulda thought that that woulda happened
at IHOP!?
