A few days ago I wrote a post about a doctor's response to the fact that my daughter was adopted. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what she was thinking but I judged it to be an initial jolt of shock followed by a settling wave of pity. That bothered me.

In that post I wrote that it seemed the doctor's attitude, or perhaps her engagement with my daughter changed dramatically once that information was revealed. That made me sad. It wasn't that she became rude. It's just that before that bit of information was divulged the doctor and my daughter were yukking it up big time and the doctor had all of these positive, warm-fuzzy things to say about and to my daughter. I enjoyed watching their exchange.

Then when I couldn't answer some of the question that the woman posed to me about my daughter's pregnancy and delivery history or her early development the disclosure about the adoption happened. Not that I was trying to keep it a secret. That's impossible to do during a medical appointment and there is no need for secrecy. It's just the way the conversation unfolded. Just as I was about to say "let me explain," the doctor realized that my daughter must have been adopted. I confirmed her take on things and that's when I thought I noted a change in her interactions with my daughter.

Maybe the realization that my daughter was adopted snapped her back into her efficient medical role. Maybe she became so enamoured with my beautiful, brilliant, socially engaging little girl that the doctor completely "forgot" that she was supposed to be following up on a medical concern and that bit of information brought her back to the point. Maybe she realized she had been having fun goofing around with my daughter and needed to get moving to keep the schedule tight for the other patients that were waiting to see her. Maybe she had children of her own and when she realized the time (it was late afternoon) she had to get it in gear to head out the door and pick up her own brood. Those are just a few of the alternative explanations that I came up with that make perfect sense when compared to my paranoid interpretation of things.

It's not easy being a parent. That's no newsflash. It's not easy being an adoptive parent. That's not a newsflash either. But the little things that can throw you about parenting always come as a surprise, whether it has to do with adoption or not. The trip to the doctor's office was one of those little things that threw me. I know for a fact that I am likely to be thrown around...a lot. I better get some protective gear.