People of Alabama: Christopher Long of Alabaster
“My parents instilled in me this lesson, ‘Don’t ever quit’. The value of that became obvious when I was in high school and became very involved in athletics. That taught me focus. The reason you don’t quit is that if you keep working at it, you will succeed. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but eventually you will have a success of some kind. My children are adopted. We were first matched with a birth mother in 2010. It was a scam. She was contacting several families and getting money from them. Then the next summer, we were matched with a young woman in Mississippi. She gave birth and we were with the child for one day. The birth mother, as was her right, changed her mind. That was brutal. We’d spent all this time and all this money, we were very discouraged and again, we wanted to quit. But a little voice from my playing football days said ‘Keep going. Keep going.’ A month after that, we were matched with twins. We have 9-year-old twins.” – Christopher Long of Alabaster.
Long is a historical interpreter and manager of historical research and military programs at American Village in Montevallo.
Long said his twins have brought fulfillment to his life.
“You touch the future. As someone who is a historian, I’m very passionate about history and the past; this is my way to touch the future. Being a parent, you will find your greatest joy, your greatest frustration. You will become happier than you thought possible and angrier than you thought possible, but the joy you get is more. To say it’s worth it is just an understatement. It’s fulfillment and a sense to touch the future.”
These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.