Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
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he week before Labor Day, 2016, Circe Hamilton, a freelance photographer in her mid-forties, was preparing to move back to the U.K., after twenty years in New York. She had begun to think of the city as an obstruction; she had recently struggled to make a living, and felt that she was depriving her young son of a gentler, slower childhood in west London, with access to English relatives, the National Health Service, and muddy playgrounds under gray skies. Hamilton is an American citizen—and, she recently learned, a descendant of Alexander Hamilton—but she grew up in England, sounds English, and has a British passport. When her friend Valentina Rice hosted a farewell dinner for her, on August 30th, Hamilton was surrounded by expatriate British women with careers in the media and in fashion. The guests ate blueberry polenta cake and said goodbye to someone they understood to be a single mother.
Hamilton’s son, Abush, was born in Ethiopia, and was adopted by Circe in August, 2011, when he was a toddler. A year and a half earlier, Hamilton had broken up with Kelly Gunn, the woman who had been her romantic partner for several years. In their final year together, Hamilton and Gunn had begun the process of an overseas adoption. After the separation, Hamilton continued to pursue the process. The two women remained in close contact, and a year after Abush arrived Gunn became his godmother. Despite some friction between the women about the meaning of that role, Gunn and Abush developed a strong bond. He often stayed with her overnight; he loved her dogs.
On the morning of the farewell dinner, Hamilton had walked with Abush from her home, in the West Village, to Gunn’s apartment, on Sullivan Street, a block south of Washington Square Park. The apartment is modern, with glossy dark floors and a wall of windows. Gunn had become wealthy by supplying Apple with display fixtures for its stores; she had run her own design company, and had been a partner in another. She owned property in Los Angeles, and a summer house on Fire Island. She had offered to take Abush to the beach for a few nights while Hamilton finished packing. Hamilton would join them on Thursday, September 1st, and then bring Abush back to New York before flying with him to London, on Saturday night.
What Makes a Parent?
This is lengthy. I mean looooong. But, it's worth it. The case isn't over yet. It should be. It's selfish.
Hamilton’s son, Abush, was born in Ethiopia, and was adopted by Circe in August, 2011, when he was a toddler. A year and a half earlier, Hamilton had broken up with Kelly Gunn, the woman who had been her romantic partner for several years. In their final year together, Hamilton and Gunn had begun the process of an overseas adoption. After the separation, Hamilton continued to pursue the process. The two women remained in close contact, and a year after Abush arrived Gunn became his godmother. Despite some friction between the women about the meaning of that role, Gunn and Abush developed a strong bond. He often stayed with her overnight; he loved her dogs.
On the morning of the farewell dinner, Hamilton had walked with Abush from her home, in the West Village, to Gunn’s apartment, on Sullivan Street, a block south of Washington Square Park. The apartment is modern, with glossy dark floors and a wall of windows. Gunn had become wealthy by supplying Apple with display fixtures for its stores; she had run her own design company, and had been a partner in another. She owned property in Los Angeles, and a summer house on Fire Island. She had offered to take Abush to the beach for a few nights while Hamilton finished packing. Hamilton would join them on Thursday, September 1st, and then bring Abush back to New York before flying with him to London, on Saturday night.
What Makes a Parent?
This is lengthy. I mean looooong. But, it's worth it. The case isn't over yet. It should be. It's selfish.
