Your Stories
Joe Romero’s Family
By Joe Romero of Albuquerque
It’s funny to look back and see how the seemingly small decisions we make in our life can have such huge impacts on our futures.
At times, I wonder if I had not done certain things, not taken certain paths, if my life would be as fulfilled as it now is.
For me, it began in November 2000 at a Margaret Cho performance at Popejoy Hall. That’s when I met my partner, John. We had an instant bond because of our appreciation for the show. This past November, we celebrated our 10th anniversary with our son, Archer, who is now 2 years old.
I never stopped believing that one day I would have a beautiful family of my own. But it did not come easy, that’s for sure. There has been heartbreak, emotional turmoil, and financial strain. Yet, we made our dream come true on March 10, 2009 when we welcomed our son into our lives.
Let me share our story with you.
Our story really begins on the day that we downloaded the 30 or so page adoption application. More than anything, our goal was to provide a child with a loving and stable home. Like most couples, we started the adoption process thinking that we would have our beautiful baby after a few years of hard work and endless applications. For weeks, we diligently worked on filling out the application, sharing the most intimate details of ourselves with strangers, who we thought would pour through our information to tell us we could be parents. We submitted our application and waited to begin our journey.
We waited. And waited. And waited some more, and nothing. No social worker ever contacted us, and to this day—six years later—we have no idea where our applications ended up.
Our extended family was very supportive of our dream to start a family, and they knew of our struggles to become parents. Building a family together was a dream we held deep to our heart, but children did not enter our minds for a few years after this experience.
We began exploring our options once again and continued our journey to build a family together. Shortly after starting this journey, we learned that we were going to be dads. And we couldn’t believe that we were finally going to have the family we dreamed of. Little did I know that the next nine months were going to be filled with nail biting worry. Parenthood does that.
It was a very intimate process for us, as our lives were closely intertwined with a family that became an extended part of our own.
In March 2009, we received a call that our child was about to be born. We drove through blizzard-like conditions to get to the hospital in Salt Lake City, and just as we were pulling off the highway to rest, we got the call that Archer had been born.
Walking into the hospital room and seeing him for the first time was surreal. Our son was here, and I will never forget holding him for the first time. He was perfect in every way.
Finally, after years, we were daddies.
