My title doesn’t mean my big brother in the literal sense. I only have a younger brother. Instead my title is referring to the Big Brother reality television show.

I know, you are probably wondering what in the world the reality show Big Brother has to do with adoption.

It was in its second season during my pregnancy. I didn’t have the time to watch it during the first season, but I had a pretty rough pregnancy and of course, wasn’t going out as much anymore, so I had time to watch it. If you know much about me, you know that I used to be a huge reality TV junkie. Now there’s only one or two that I still follow when they air, Big Brother being one of them.

If you’ve never seen Big Brother, don’t watch! It’s terribly addicting. But, for me, it proved to be a huge distraction during that time of my life. It was nice to watch “real” people having more drama and problems in their lives than I was.

A. (Charlie’s adoptive mom) knew that I watched it so she started watching it too. Her watching the show too ended up being a good thing. It gave us something to talk about and an issue to connect on as we were getting to know one another. It was nice to be able to just kick back and “gossip” about the people on the show instead of having to discuss the “heavy” issues all the time.

The finale of the show was actually supposed to occur either on or the day after that fateful day, September 11, 2001. The finale was post poned for as a result of the constant and much needed news coverage following the days after 9/11. They did not give a re-air date of the finale and I jokingly said I would probably go into labor during the finale.

Would you believe that actually happened? I had an emergency c-section during the finale. I don’t remember this (I blame it on the drugs) but A. and J. both tell me that I was fussing at the doctor because he made me miss the finale!

So, as crazy as it may sound, I am thankful for the distraction that Big Brother provided during a stressful and emotional time of my life.