Melinda J. Irvine

The Christmas mail to my parent’s house brought a wonderful surprise today, the much anticipated book (and some extra surprises) by my dear friend June Perkins, Magic Fish Dreaming.

If you have been following my blog you will know that I’m currently home in Australia working and raising money to legally adopt my little boy Jerry, and I called him not long after the parcel arrived, and that phone call was almost as wonderful as the book itself.

As I read pieces of the poetry to him he began singing the words like lyrics back through the phone. And what is even more beautiful is the magical place he is, believing everything I say.

“Fairies Teeth!” he exclaimed loudly. “No, I didn’t see that Tita Mel! They have magic?”

His enthusiasm and delight gushed through the phone as I told him about a boy and a girl on the front cover with different coloured skin.

“There’s a boy there Tita Mel, with black skin like me?” he asked in excitement. “And the girl, Tita Mel, she is white?”

We chatted for a while, he told me he loved me more than 1,000 bananas and as big as an elephant and I promised to call him again tomorrow, but in the morning.

Jerry doesn’t completely conceptualise my arrival in the Philippines on January 18th: he knows it is on the next calendar and before his birthday. But one thing he does fully understand is that a wonderful package of Magic Fish Dreaming (click the link to grab your own copy), a bright red T-shirt (from Junes’ family in PNG) and plushie tree kangaroos and koalas will be arriving in my packed-to-capacity luggage.

© 2016 Melinda Irvine
Daily Prompt: Enthusiasm

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I’m actively crowdfunding to legally adopt Jerry and eventually bring him to Australia. It would be great if you checked out our campaign on the awesome not-for-profit website Chuffed.org.