What Would You Say?

I was listening to a live recording of a Dave Matthews Band concert in the car the other day and Marcus kept singing the chorus to "What Would you Say". And that is just a fitting title to this post.

I was at lunch with the kids today and at one point I noticed a blond haired, fair skinned woman sitting at a nearby table with a little boy completely Guatemalan. What did I say? Nothing. I have no clue what to say in that situation. I usually wait for the other person to talk to me. I just have no clue what to say. Most of the time I just fear that there is that chance I could be wrong and I could totally insult someone. So all those other adoptive parents that I know read my blog and rarely post comments, what do you say? Post your comment. Please.

I have had lots of people say things to me. Of course, my kids have been adopted so it isn't like someone coming up to me and asking me if I adopted them would offend me. (Although, some people have done it with way more tact than others.) I have had several people come up to me and start off with, "Can I ask you a question?" And of course I know where that is going. I had one Caucasian woman with two African American children with her say to me that my son (only had one of them with me at the time) was beautiful. I knew what she was trying to lead into but then I froze with what to say next so that went nowhere. Then of course there was that time when a guy got my attention at the store and asked, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" I just knew what was coming, but then it turned out that he just wanted to give me some advice about a product he noticed I was purchasing. Oops. So really, what do you say?