Adoption story – A thank you
All children deserve a forever family regardless of disability.
All children deserve a forever family regardless of disability.
Readers may remember more than 4 years ago when I wrote about Ronald McDonald and Houdini. That four post series is still among the more popular posts on this site.
My brother and I are adopted. Our father, adopted us when I was 3 and my brother was 4. In doing so, he gave us a chance at a normal life. A chance. Life has a strange way of showing you normal.
There are no regrets. Every time I am in the city where dad lives, I make an effort to get together with him for coffee and conversation.
Each time we are together, about once a month, I thank him for saving us. For giving us his name. It’s a simple thing really. He didn’t need to adopt us. He did. In the process he gave us his name, a grandmother, an Uncle and a sister – in the end, he gave us what I consider the greatest gift. He told us the truth about our adoption. He didn’t sugarcoat anything, he told it like it was. Our biological father was not a good guy.
Given my health problems it would be nice to know more, but we don’t push.
Last year, I did trace that side of the family and connected with a sister.
Opening our hearts
When we adopted David, we gave him my dad’s first name as his middle name. In honor of what dad did for me. To celebrate a legacy of giving of ourselves more than expected when the person we give of ourselves to is not able to help themselves. In truth, we had rough lives growing up, but I fear they would have been much, much harder if he hadn’t given us his love like he did. There are no regrets in me for adopting David. He is my son.
People often ask, “are all adopted kids like him?”
My answer? “No. No they are not.”
And then I add, “All children deserve a forever family regardless of disability.”
We wanted to continue a legacy of giving of oneself so that another might have a forever family.
Thank you
For Dad. Thank you will never be enough.
For Mom. Thank you for loving us so much that you let Dad adopt us. You of all people could have said no.
For Houdini. The one decent thing that I know of that you did in your 81+ years of life. You let us go. I am grateful for that.
