An Adoption Story
Memoir
Date Published: October 22, 2024
Publisher: Double Entendre Ink
A twin herself, Lisa Crawford Watson believes she has the insight needed to
mother twins. Mounting obstacles impede the adoption process, and she
examines whether such setbacks are signs that she shouldn’t adopt. But
when identical twin infant sisters in need of a permanent, stable home come
into her life, she falls in love with them and knows what she must do.
Adopting premature twin girls who were born drug- and alcohol-addicted, and
jostled, separately, from foster home to foster home, creates one hardship
after another. Lisa quickly learns that raising children is a feat of
sacrifice and unpredictability, and caring for children born into trauma may
be more difficult than she ever could have imagined. Over the years, the
twins wreak havoc on every relationship within the family and on
Lisa’s heart. Has adopting the girls caused more harm than good?
What We Wished For: An Adoption Story shares a woman’s quest to build
a loving family. It is a tale of courage, perseverance, and what remains
when things don’t go as imagined. This memoir speaks to anyone who has
ever struggled with a life-altering decision, one from which there is no
turning back.
EXCERPT
Given the chance, I believe she would have done it. Would have hit hard and fast, burying the knife deep. Friday night typically meant cheese pizza, washed down with two-percent milk, and poking at green salad, followed by vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. It was “Girls’ Choice Night,” and my twin girls, then thirteen, invariably chose the same menu.
Hayley had just dug into her ice cream, shoving way too much into her mouth with that first bite even before she’d cleaned her plate, but I didn’t comment. On this night, it was her choice. I took a bite of my salad and wondered if she was going to get brain freeze from that much ice cream. I glanced at her sister, Hilary, holding a slice of pizza near her mouth but not eating as she watched her twin, and felt a smile tug at my lips as I absorbed the peaceful, maybe even happy mood around the dinner table.
In retrospect, I sometimes wonder if that moment was just too good for Hayley. Rather than filling her spoon with more ice cream, she threw it at me. As I dodged, and it clattered against the tile floor, she shoved back her chair, tipping it over, and looked at me with a rage I hadn’t seen in months deepening her chestnut eyes. Poking her finger toward my face, she yelled, “Fuck You, Mommy! Fuck you!” Then she ran out of the room and down the hall, into the refuge of her bedroom, and slammed the door.
The moment hung on the air. Heat radiated across my face as I looked at Hilary, her eyes on me, perhaps silently wondering, as was I, what had just happened, and what I was going to do about it. I had believed in the seemingly idyllic moment we were sharing, had counted on it, really. A happy time ’round the table I could paste into memory. The pizza, mixed with a sour mash of sadness, fear, and a heaping spoonful of disappointment, lay heavy in my gut as I got up from the table, invited Hilary to finish her dinner, and departed the dining room to check on her sister.
By the time I followed her down the hall and slowly pushed open the door to the room she shared with her sister, Hayley had already found the pink Swiss Army knife her Auntie Linda had brought her from Europe for that Girl Scout camping trip—something I thought I’d confiscated—and was doggedly knifing her bed to death. Her flannel sheets lay in ribbons, draped off each side of the mattress, whose gored center had freed a burst of memory foam.
She paused just long enough to glance up at me, brandish her knife, and say, “You’re next.”
About the Author
A fifth-generation Northern Californian, Lisa Crawford Watson has published
seven books and thousands of articles in local and national newspapers and
magazines. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociolinguistics from the
University of California, Davis, and a master’s degree in education
administration from California State University, Sacramento. She currently
teaches communications, writing, and journalism at California State
University, Monterey Bay.
Lisa lives with her husband in Carmel on the legendary Monterey Peninsula,
where she focuses on fitness, family, and philanthropy. As a resident of the
“Canine Capital of the Country,” Lisa has a devoted following
for her weekly dog column, for which she has profiled more than
seven-hundred furry friends.
Contact Links
Website: lisacrawfordwatson.com
Facebook: Lcwcarmel
Instagram: @lisacrawfordwatson
Substack: Lisa Crawford Watson
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