Tara's first visit

We met up with Tara, our social worker, yesterday!  She was really nice, assured us that if there were any concerns that came up, she was there to give us resources and not necessarily to deem us worthy or not for parenthood.
Tara moved to Portland recently with her family to get away from the craziness of New York.  Her previous career was a couples counselor, which she loved, and it kinda showed.  She admitted she enjoys getting into the details of people's relationships - fun times ahead :)
She told us that all those seventy odd questions we each answered, she did not read so we would just start from scratch.
First question: "So, why do you want to adopt?"
The dam exploded and I cried my eyeballs out and told her it was something I always wanted to do ever since I became a big sister.  Somehow forty years went by and I had a chance to embrace adoption again when it honestly couldn't feel more perfect.  John took my hand, I blew my nose and we continued. 
She asked us about what kind of child we wanted which we're still kind of vague about - basically we want a healthy baby.  Weird being asked what features you'd like in your child but those are questions we need to answer to make things easier through the process and after we are matched.
My favorite part of the visit was being asked what I liked most about John.  It was easy.  He's smart, dedicated, funny, creative, strong, a do-er, loving, ever-evolving,....  
Then I had to tell her what I didn't really like that much.  I stopped after two and I wasn't holding back.  It was kind of a good reflection for me because I know I'm more expressive when something bothers than when things are going great.  John is pretty amazing and it was a good reminder to appreciate that more often.  It's a bonus to have a social worker who is also a relationship counselor.
We spent about an hour and a half talking which I truly enjoyed.
We learned the process may take a bit longer than we thought.  I thought it would be 12-18 months meaning we'd be united with Baby early next year but it sounds like it may be a couple of years.  It depends on so many things obviously.  That's okay.  After 45 years, what's another couple :)
Next week we meet with her again for a longer session where we speak to her one on one and Mayumi gets to talk to Tara.  Mayumi has told me she doesn't like to get too personal about things.  As long as she gets her own room, she's cool with whatever.  Haha.  Love that kid.
Looking forward to our second and last visit next week for a while.