That was fast...

I've taken the position of New Mexico Representative for American Adoption Congress. Within about two weeks of it becoming "official", I received an e-mail from a first-mom who had just renewed her lapsed membership. She is living in the same town as I am. I couldn't be more thrilled. I told her I've felt like I'm living in the Outback (which isn't that much of an overstatement for Southern New Mexico, actually).

Paula and I promptly scheduled a lunch and talked for almost 3 hours. I was amazed to learn of how active she's been in advocacy over the years. She worked for a legislator in Austin for several years and while there saw some adoption legislation moving through. She also organized many regional "retreats", informal, weekend gatherings for moms and adoptees. I told her I had been thinking about working towards exactly that, probably for New Mexico in Socorro (mid-state) and hopefully at some point in Tucson for El Paso, TX, New Mexico, Arizona, and maybe Southern Calif, depending on how ambitious people are about driving.

Anyway, won't recount our entire visit (obviously) but want to express my excitement, particularly because I plan to draw her in for some legislative insight/ideas for New Mexico. (She already knows more about the NM statutes than I do at this point.) Meanwhile I'm studying-up and will be at the Operation Identity conference in Albuquerque, which will include a session on NM's confidential intermediary program.