Our Day in Court

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 was the day my husband and I legally adopted our granddaughter, Isabella.  And what an experience it was!  Imagine being in a waiting area on the 16th floor of the county courthouse with your energetic 3 year old, surrounded by divorcing couples.  That was the environment.  The judge squeezed us into her schedule midway through a morning of one miserable divorce case after another. We were waiting, along with our lawyer and law clerk, for close to two hours, trying to keep Isabella amused.  Typical three-year-old, she made comments about the people around us: regarding an overweight woman in her late 50s "Look at that big gramma" or a woman wearing sandals who had toe fungus: "Her has boo-boos on her toes." When it was our turn, we entered the courtroom where our judge (a woman in her late 50s) smiled down at all of us.  She told us to all raise our right hands.  Isa needed a second prompting from the judge, and she lifted her left hand.  The judge beamed and said "Perfect!"  We were sworn in. Our lawyer asked us the obvious questions: Where do you live?  Are you married?  How long has Isabella resided with you?  Do you have a bond with Isabella?  Did the birth parents sign away their rights willingly?" to which I responded, "Oh, gleefully."*  The judge laughed at that one.  *note: my one white lie in court as the parents weren't at all happy about the adoption but both knew it was best for Isabella. The judge saw we were giving Isa two middle names and said, "She has no middle name?"  I said, "No."  She said, "So you're loading her up!"  Jim said, "This way she has her choice when she's older."  The judge then said, "You know your responsibility won't end in 15 years when she turns 18.  It's a life-long commitment."  We acknowledged that we were aware of this and were up for the challenge.  She then told us, "Thank you for taking care of her." Our lawyer asked for a photo op which the judge agreed to readily.  She tried to hold Isabella in front of her standing behind the bench with Jim and me on either side.  Isa wasn't going to have a total stranger hold her like that.  She spun around and shoved the judge in the chest, and said, "No!  Me don't like that."  The judge laughed and said, "I have a grandson the same age so I understand."  I held Isa for the photo.   The judge then placed her gavel in Isa's hand and said, "Tell your parents it's their duty to send you to law school."  Isa tossed the gavel down where it hit the judge's little calculator.  The judge said, "OK then, business school."  As we departed from behind the bench, the judge told Isa, "Now make sure you put them in a nice nursing home."  We all laughed. As we left the courtroom and the bailiff opened the doors to the divorcing couples still waiting outside, he said, "What a buzz kill!" knowing it was back to more hours of divorce cases.