Adoption, Painting furniture and the Forthcoming Wedding.
Good Morning/ Afternoon/Evening
Yesterday,
I wanted to paint this dowdy table,
that houses my computer.
It's not vintage, and I don't even remember
where we acquired it from,
all I know it has been an eye sore.
I had forgotten just how amazing it is.
Great colours, incredibly chalky and goes on just about anything,
metal, shiny surfaces, waxed surfaces....yes, it really does and no,
I am not receiving any commission from Ms Sloan. LOL
oooeeeeerrr am I going to get this finished?
The sky started to look very threatening.
The offending article went outside around 11 am.
I gave it a couple of coats of a gorgeous pale blue, the top coat with Greek Blue,
which I think is so Monet looking.
Painted white into the knuckles
watered down antique wax with white spirit.
Painted it on and softened the edges with a cloth.
Buffed it up and it was back in place by 5.30 pm
Still looks cluttered, just more attractively cluttered.
I am now doing the odd paint workshops,
in between working on furniture
for the showroom and my trade clients,
so let me know if you want to learn yourself
and we can sort out some dates.
wedding of the year
Yes, its fast approaching.
Our Jay and Krista's big day.
I was looking at their wed-site
this morning.
Sorry guys, I just hadn't had time to peruse before,
but I have to tell you, its lovely.
Do we do Wed-sites over in the UK?
I've never been aware of them before.
Great idea.
These are the same photographers that are capturing the wedding.
They were engagement pictures.
Nass and I were there outside St. Nicholas Church in Arundel,
when Jay proposed.
Our lovely Jay
and how we found each other
It was Jay's Adoption Day.
The day we celebrate everything going legal,
all those years ago.
I was concerned Jay would not like me
blogging our history together,
but far from that,
he seemed happy and touched
and now, it's my turn to be touched,
as I see he has some of it on his wed-site.
If you are considering adoption
you might want a read.
I always wanted children and in the
traditional sense it was a baby.
Over the years my ex husband and I
went through all the normal stuff to achieve that,
but it just never happened.
We decided we would look at adoption as an option
and went to an adoption society in London,
for an information evening.
The social worker told the small group,
about3 case histories
and Jay's was one of them.
By absolute chance...or maybe not...after the talk,
when everyone was chatting and drinking coffee,
we were looking at Jay's photo
and I made a comment such as
" Oh look how beautiful he is"....
The social worker just happened to be behind us.
" Would you like to find out more about that little boy?"
The rest, as they say is history.
The social worker assigned to our case hadn't
met Jay herself at that point,
and on her return from seeing him for the first time,
stopped at a phone box...
stopped at a phone box...
yes.. we did use them, then,
back in the day,
back in the day,
to excitedly inform me
"You are perfect for each other,
your temperaments match each other completely."
Something happened..to this day I don't know what it was,
whereby, although we had met Jay a few times
he had never been to the house and
stayed.
I felt they were trying to move
him from his foster placement quickly,
for some reason known only to them
and on one of my visits the social worker
asked if I would take Jay home
the next time I came to see him.
This was only a few days later.
I trundled over in my yellow 2cv,
which was to later become such a huge part of our lives,
out and about all over the place.
 |
| I bought this lamp when I stopped off on the way to bring Jay home all those years ago..It became his night light. In later years it sat in our window in our house in Tarrant Street in Arundel and when it was on friends knew we were around and meant they could drop by for a glass of wine! |
When I arrived he had pulled all his pictures off the wall
and was packed and ready.
Taking my hand he said
" Come on Mum, lets go"
He was 4 years old at the time.
It all happened it a whirl and when I arrived home I was almost in shock.
I was working at a play school at the time and thought I would be brilliant.
But brilliant doesn't happen overnight.
Also, you expect, I expected, to feel a huge surge of love immediately.
It doesn't always just happen, like a bolt from the blue.
It grows and like all relationships, you get out what you put in.
Suddenly here I was with a little person 24 hours a day.
It was quite a shock to the system.
I was emotional all the time,
feeling I wasn't making a good enough job of things.
I didn't really know what he ate, his likes and dislikes.
Imagine though, what it was like for him.
Different family, home, town, food ...everything
I struggled to feed him...I had never really cooked convenience food
and found that he was used to stuff coming out of tins and boxes.
I remember in desperation asking him
" Well, what DO you like?"
and in a quiet little voice he replied,
" I like cheesecake"
Thanks be , I thought, and proceeded
to make the whole thing,
as usual from scratch.
Jay didn't like it and barely touched it.
" I thought you said you liked cheescake?"
" Yes, but out of a packet!"
We got through those early hurdles
and somewhere along the line,
actually very soon after,
I realised I loved this little boy,
more than I had loved anyone in my life.
And that's the point I wanted to make....I never in a million years thought you could have such strength of feeling for a child that you had not produced yourself.
Prior to that, I had spent years weeping and wailing and feeling such intense jealousy
for all my friends who seemed to be having babies with ease.
Jay and I went from strength to strength.
Our relationship so strong that when he was at college
he came home one day and proclaimed,
" My mates at college are so jealous of our relationship"
"Why Jay?"
" Because it's so strong and they don't have that with their own mothers"
" How do they know?"
" Ma, they just see us together"
Over the years, I have been so proud of my Jay's achievements.
From an early age he took a huge interest in clothes,
loved his skateboard, loved to travel.
loved his skateboard, loved to travel.
After doing a menswear fashion degree,
he just went from strength to strength.
he just went from strength to strength.
Determined to end up in NYC..against all odds he got there.
Not the first time, when he borrowed money to get out there for interviews.
On his return, he said they felt he was good, but needed more experience.
"So what are you going to do?"
" Get more experience , of course"
and he did...through sheer hard work, gritty determination,
and talent, he went to NYC via Ecko Unltd.
He not only gained experience there,
he gained himself the gorgeous Krista,
his wife to be.
Look at him now, a successful menswear designer in California.
When he first went there he was designing clothes for
...a skateboard company..funny hey?
After all the years he hurtled round on his own board.
( Which is still in my loft, Jay)
When he first went there he was designing clothes for
...a skateboard company..funny hey?
After all the years he hurtled round on his own board.
( Which is still in my loft, Jay)
 |
| Jay and Krista after he proposed to her in Arundel |
 |
| birth brothers re-united |
 |
| the first time they had all got together |
Nass and I miss him terribly.
Oh! I forgot to tell you, I gained even more out of this than a wonderful child.
When by ex husband and I divorced about 20 years ago,
I became entrenched in the school PTA to keep me busy.
We organised a massive Summer Ball and hence I
was spending more and more time at Jay's school.
So, my bonus was.....
going out with the gorgeous PE teacher
who I subsequently married and who became
a loving stepfather, adoring Jay as much as I do.
.............and Adoption Day?
Its the day you go to court to make it all official.
Jay wrote a note to the judge to sway the man to let him stay with us.
I still have that note and to this day and it still makes me well up.
Adoption Day
has been celebrated every year since.
As important to us, as a birthday
If you are considering adoption..really, really, go and find out about it.
Be patient, its a lot of interviews and social workers poking into all areas of your life.
But...a million times over..its worth it
 |
| gorgeous boy.. now a gorgeous young man |
clever boy Jay......
 |
| Jay was working for Hurley and some of his designs are turning up in Japanese fashion magazines |
We miss him terribly, but are so proud.
He now lives on Laguna in California.
Here is his website
www.jayzunborley.carbonmade.com
Here is his website
www.jayzunborley.carbonmade.com
Lyminster Fete.
My friend Stella is back from Kentucky to stay in her house in Arundel.
So, it's off to do all those terribly English things she misses while in the US.
English Summer Fetes...
and I use the word Summer,
very loosely.
Its on this afternoon just outside Arundel.
Farmers Market in Arundel this morning.
Have a great weekend.
