Well I was going to title this thread ‘Happy Birthday’ but that is not quite accurate. It was ten years ago this week that we ‘adopted’ Betty. We are unsure of her exact birth date in Bologna but it has now been 10 years since we brought her home with us.
When we brought her home it had been approximately three years since we adopted our first Ducati as the Boss had already fulfilled a maternal yearning bringing Jukie into our home. But this was to be my first, quite a responsibility for a first time Dad. Ultimately … and probably like most ‘families’ … most of the care of the children would fall to their mother. But … and possibly like most fathers … my time is spent enjoying the kids company on the weekends.
In the ten years we have been fortunate enough to enjoy:
• Family holidays
• Weekends away
• Trips out into the countryside
• Gatherings with other adopting families who share a common bond
We have bought them gifts (mostly from foreign shores) but often with a link back to their birthplace. To share in the cultural background of our ‘children’ we have even ventured to their homeland, visited their birthplace (it nearly killed one of us) and participated in the festivities held in honour of them and their relatives.
But also they have brought us to this place … some sort of sado-masochist support group. Here we have shared friendships and met all manner of people local, interstate and international … mostly quirky and sometimes weird.
Thanks Betty (and of course the Boss for her support) for these first 10 years.
When we first brought our new baby home back in 2005:
And some more recent photos … she hasn’t changed a bit, yet somehow seems more beautiful as she ages:
