Papa

"Papa" … isn't it the sweetest sound when you hear it for the first time? For some people (especially within the gay community) it might be the start of a nightmare or an unwanted recognition, for me, it was more of a scream from the heart setting me free from a long journey.

Let me break it to you: I love children! As far as I can remember, I have always wanted to have one, two or a bunch of them (please … pretty please!). Sadly, I wasn't born in a baby-filled family. I'm the only child, the only grand-child and I had to live in a world surrounded by adults. It has probably helped me being more mature than most kids my age but I was lacking the play-times with youngsters and the falling-over-heels for the cute laugh of a related toddler.

 I was expecting, it would take years before I would meet the right guy and start a family. I thought I would go through the very slow and complicated process of adopting a child with him, through an agency or else, our own Pitt-Jolie version of happiness. But fate has its ways and sometimes its happy endings. My perfectly imperfect boyfriend, as I mentioned in this post, has several younger brothers and one of them, 19 years of age, has a 2 year old baby boy and a 8 months girl. As he is too young to financially take care of them (and not mature enough I guess), my boyfriend is helping out a lot so much so that he is considering his nephew as his own son. So when I was introduced to the whole family, his big concern was: "will I hit it off with this little boy?" I've always heard those stories where barren couples were visiting an orphanage in another country and among hundreds of children had an instant connection with one particular child. That’s somehow what happened to me. And soon enough that little boy called me "Papa". A magic word I knew how to say but never heard.

We are spending as much time as we can together and try to get ready to welcome him in our home in a few months, figuring out plans for the future including him and probably later on his little sister. Of course his real father will always be his father but I guess there is a room for a "Papa" in his life and I'm more than ready to enjoy this role.