Shaping Up

I've been working on putting together all of my emails for a while now.  I made a huge effort last winter and printed everything through February 5th.  But then I did nothing until about a month ago.  And I started to add more emails to the ever growing document.  And then I gave up for a while.  Because there were so many of them.  Then I decided to look into a blog book.  And that got me to thinking that I'd really like all the emails in a book too.  Something nice, something bound.  So I got my butt in gear and got to work.  I'm proud to say that I got the entire first year of emails from my first father put together in a document.  I even started another one for year two.  So I'm up to date.

It didn't take me long at all to update the emails with my first mother because there weren't a whole lot there since last year.  I decided to include all of the ones from her because I don't see myself getting enough post by next February to start another book.  And it would be depressing to end on a bad note.  Lately her emails have been a lot more upbeat and she's been responding to them.  So that's always a good thing.  The only bad thing was that I didn't have an electronic copy of the first or second letter/email that she sent me.  So I started to type them out.  Because I needed them to be electronic.  And then I got depressed again.  So I stopped.  And then I found a program that would turn the image into text.  So I used that and BOM!  I have everything in digital format ready to go.  Just waiting on one more email...

I can't get over the fact that I have 130 pages of emails between me and SinginInTheRain from one year of correspondence.  It feels like a lot.  When I put it into book form (9" by 6") it came out to 226 pages.  That's a lot.  But I'm glad I took the time to put it together.  It's sort of amazing thinking about it.  And I'm excited to have it all together.  Something that I can go back and reread someday.  I'm not ready to reread now.  Some time needs to go by before I'm at that stage.  But it will be really nice to have it.

I was really worried about the cost before.  Because I had seen that some of these books cost upwards of $100 and I wanted three of them (one of my emails with SinginInTheRain, one of my emails with NeverTooLate, and one of my first year of blogging) and I don't have $300 to spend on these books right now.  So here's where I started jumping up and down for joy.  My email books don't include pictures (I chose not to include them in the books because I can always make a photo book later with better color options) so that means I can print them in black and white.  And I don't need a fancy cover, just a normal one (hardcover though, I want these to last).  So guess what?  My first book (SinginInTheRain) I can get for $30!  How awesome is that?  So it's ordered.  I should have it within the next two weeks!  Yay!

So now I have a new plan.  Order lots of books.  Because I can.  And I want to.  And they are keeping my mind off of other things.

1. Emails from SinginInTheRain - ordered
2. Emails from NeverTooLate - waiting on one more email, and then I will order
3. First year of blogging - waiting until January (January 2011-December 2011)
4. Adoption story!  Need to work on this.  It will include the story of how I was adopted, some details about NeverTooLate and SinginInTheRain, why I decided to search, pictures, non-identifying information, basic family tree data, and pictures!!!

I was going to put my adoption story in with the emails from NeverTooLate. But because I have a separate book for SinginInTheRain's emails, I feel the need to keep them separate.  My adoption story belongs in it's own book.  With color.  And pictures.  And wonderful goodness.

I keep going back to that first letter.  Which is awful to reread, especially after having a heart to heart with SinginInTheRain on my birthday, and how he brought up NeverTooLate.  I guess I'm seeing her in a new light, and understanding things a lot better.  Her first letter makes a lot more sense, but it's so painful!  I'm just glad it's done and over with.

So I have a lot of work to do.  Which is great.  Because I need to be distracted.  You know from all this adoption crap lately.  I hate November...