No Strings Attached

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do.
Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing.
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that said minor children are hereby declared to be adopted by Petitioners, RYAN and ADAM REISMAN.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that said minor children shall henceforth have all lawful rights as their own children, including the right of support, protection and inheritance, and shall henceforth bear the names of JUSTICE RACHEL REISMAN and JUSTIN BENJAMIN REISMAN.

Dated this 19th day of March, 2013,
The Honorable Cynthia N. Giuliani
Eighth Judicial District Court Judge
Las Vegas, Nevada

And of course, we were running late. We got the call at ten in the morning - "Come in today! It's going to be today!" - and we erupted with relief and excitement. As soon as we got the official word, we put out a flurry of emails, times and locations, and a quick Facebook "join us if you can," and we were off and running.

The kids were in school, so it was a mad dash to pick them up and get across town to the courthouse in time, especially since when we got there, no one seemed to know where Justin was. His teacher's classroom was dark. He wasn't in the art room, he wasn't in the music room, lunch was over, the staff seemed stumped, until...

Ahhh, recess. Of course. There he was, out on the playground, oblivious to the drama, just busy being six.

"Hi Dad," he grinned, as soon as he saw me, and immediately left his friends in mid-tag to run over and half-hug me, half-sock me, as he always does in his unanticipated moments, in his beautiful bursts of joy.

His white shirt was so spaghetti-stained from one end to the other, we had to stop in the office and buy him a new one. Seriously. We had to buy him a new uniform shirt before we could put him in the car. Really, hot lunch lady? You had to serve spaghetti on white uniform shirt day? On adoption day? On what conceivably could be the most photographed day of his life, sans wedding bells? Oy vey. This is Justin we're talking about, ma'am. He can drink water and somehow get unremoveable stains on his shirt. Spaghetti sauce? Why not just skip the nutritional middleman and hand him a paint gun?

We rounded up Justice from classroom two. Justin showed us the way through the labyrinth of lower school hallways. Justice knew what was coming and bit back a smile when she saw us. Cheek-bit her smile in that reserved, brief, not-going-to-let-you-see-me-smile sort of way that has become her endearing trademark these past nine months.

They both knew there was an odd chance we'd finalize today, we told them it was up to judges, filings, timing and fate, but until they saw us walking into their school to get them, they didn't know were were a "go."

But hey, get out of school half a day early and get adopted to boot? Yeah, they were both smiling as they walked down the halls. Justice demurely. And Justin strutting like a peacock. And oh, how that boy can strut.

The same Courthouse that so fully vexed me when I was legally changing my name -- the building of red tape and headaches that took "thorn in my side" to a whole new level -- now looked like an oasis in a long and complicated desert.

Two kids and Adam's mom in tow, we shuffled in, took our belts and shoes off, security screened all the body parts and acessories they like to take a peek at before they let you loose on the judges, and we made our way upstairs to Courtroom 6.

The Fromes were there, God bless them. And Adam Graff from temple. And Miss Mary, Miss Tiffany, Miss Courtney, Nurse Maureen and all the other case workers (am I missing any misses?). There was Wendy from the Adoption Exchange, with her beautiful Heart Gallery photograph of the kids, just like she promised, all those months ago.

Howard and his new girlfriend were there, snapping pictures like it was Oscar Night. And Chris, who's been in Justice's life since she was a little bitty baby, who literally first met her at the hospital with Grandma Cindy on the day she was born, was there and smiling and wiping back tears during this birth too, proving life as we know it really does come full circle, and faces past become faces future, and there's a magnificent continuity to all of this. Some things we don't fully anticipate until magic days and magic ways bring them to us, front and center. But here they are, meant to be. And they are beautiful.

"All rise!" the bailiff shouted, and thank God, the kids did. Telling Justin to get up out of a chair and stand on cue is a crapshoot on the best of days, so I silently thanked my lucky stars that court hearings register on his wack-a-doodle radar as legitimate pay attention moments.

The judge looked at them with the sweetest, kindest smile, and spoke to them softly, surprising them completely and winning everyone over from her very first words.

"Are you Justice and Justin?" she asked.

They nodded shyly, still a little in awe. Frankly, they don't see a lot of women in long, black robes, so this was a new one. She could have ninja stars, broccoli or time-outs under that robe for all they knew.

"Do you mind if I come down there and talk to you for a minute?" she asked them.

They smiled shyly and said that would be okay.

"I've been thinking of you all night long," the judge said quietly.

Their eyes lit up. These are two kids who love to be thought of.

"I went to bed last night wondering what you looked like, and how tall you were, and what your voices might sound like, and now here you are, right in front of me."

They smiled at that. Actually giggled.

"Do you want to come up here and sit by me while we do this?"

They did they said, and up they went, eyes wide. Went right up on the bench with her and sat in her lap, one on each side.

She gave them teddy bears before she started, God bless her. That's when I started looking around for the Kleenex box. Come on. I don't care how many times you've seen Law & Order. You still have to dab the old waterworks a little when the judge gives out teddy bears.

"I bet you know why you're here, right?" she asked kindly.

"Because we got out of school," Justin answered. And everyone laughed as the last remaining sliver of ice broke.

"Well...yes..." she laughed, "but other than that, why are you here?"

"So we can get adopted," Justice said.

"Exactly," she said. "And who's that over there?" she asked, pointing at me.

"Dad," they answered in unison.

"And who's that over there?" she asked, pointing at Adam.

"Daddy," they answered.

"And are you ready for them to adopt you, or should I take you home with me?"

"Home with you," Justice giggled, and we got our second round of laughter from the group assembled.

"Well, I'll tell you what," the judge said. "Why don't we let your Dad and Daddy adopt you and I will just keep in touch with each other instead. Would that be okay?"

Okay, they admitted. That would be fair.

"So you think you want to be adopted today?" she smiled.

"Yes," they said.

They both said yes.

The rest came down to legal-eze, and not too much of it at that. Just a few questions straight out of the petition asked by our wonderful attorney and friend Fran, who did this without a single penny asked. Her speed and generosity were a blessing. And when I looked at her, even she was full of happy tears. Will we care for them? Will we treat them as our own children? Do we realize that they, and we, will have all lawful rights?

God, yes, we realize it. Pinocchio and family are no longer made of wood. The Blue Fairy's wand wave was a long time coming, but brave, truthful and unselfish, here we were, and two dads' dreams were finally coming true.

"Now comes the magic part," the judge said, and the kids were still sitting on her lap spellbound, looking in her computer monitor like it might actually emit sparks or colored smoke or something. You could see it in their eyes as she read the following out loud. No special effects, but it was music to our ears all the same.

"Therefore, I order, adjudge and decree that Justice and Justin are hereby declared adopted by Adam and Ryan Reisman and shall henceforth be considered their own lawful children."

And that's all it took.

And people clapped.

And Bernetta cried.

And now we are a family. A real live one. Signed, sealed, delivered.

I've got no strings to hold me down
To make me fret, or make me frown.
I had strings, but now I'm free
There are no strings on me.

Hi-ho the me-ri-o
That's the only way to go.
I want the world to know
Nothing ever worries me.

I've got no strings, so I have fun
I'm not tied up to anyone.
They've got strings but you can see
There are no strings on me.

Our story hasn't ended, in fact, it's just beginning. But I do know this part of Fly4You is done...the part where my kids are no longer a case number. Now they're just my kids.

The storytelling isn't done either. This journal will continue, because I still don't know where the happily-ever-after is. Maybe it's when I dance with Justice at her wedding, or maybe it's when I stand next to Justin in the maternity ward and he puts his new child in my arms for the first time.

I don't know what shape it will take, but I do know it's out there, and I do know we're heading toward it.

To all of you, who've been with us this year, I leave you the same words we gave Miss Mary, the kids' case worker these past three-years-plus they've been in the system. The kids rubbed their hands in paint, and gave her their handprints, framed, with "Justin, age 6," and "Justice, age 7," written underneath this verse.

Hands that held me when no one else would.
Soft, strong angel hands.
You took mine in yours and led me home.
You changed my world
with one touch of your hands,
and for that I will always be grateful.

Thank you, Eighth Judicial District Court. What a gift. Literally, the gift of a lifetime. Everything in our lives, up to today, was just a rehearsal for the beautiful blessing of now.

We'll see you soon friends. We've got a week-long trip to Disneyland to plan. And then when we come back, we're going to get busy with the long, beautiful business of familyhood. And you can watch.

In the meantime, welcome home, Justice and Justin. We're glad you let us adopt you.

We love you more than anything else in the world, ever, ever, ever.

Welcome home.

"I've Got No Strings" and "When You Wish Upon a Star" by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington from Walt Disney Studio's "PInocchio,"
©1940 The Walt Disney Company