Adoption Awareness

"Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone, But still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, You didn't grow under my heart - but in it"
Author: Fleur Conkling Heylinger

November is Adoption Awareness Month. This is a huge deal to me since not only am I adopted, but I also hope to adopt one day.

My story:

I was left on a doorstep of a police station when I was a couple weeks old, maybe even a month. With me was a basic note stating my birthday and that my mother couldn't care for me (quite possibly even that she was too young to care for me, I can't be fore sure).

I was put into an orphanage, where, I was tied to my crib who I shared with other babies. At 17 months, I was moved to a foster home where I got one on one time, and, was in dire need of it. I could only sit on my own. I couldn't crawl, I couldn't walk. Couldn't do much, due to the overcrowded orphange I was in.

Now, most of you know, my little Kaleigh is 17 months. To think of all she can do, and try to imagine her not being able to do much past about 6-9 months freaks me out!

Luckily, I was a quick learner, and in the month or so I was at the foster home, I had caught up to my age developmentally.

I was adoped on June 30th. I was 18 months, 3 days.

Being adopted definitely caused some issues back in the day. I wondered why I was different, but my parents did a really good job explaining to me and always treating me the same as their biological children. I was even sent to an Adoption Camp, where I got to meet other Korean children who were adopted.

Do I ever wonder about my birth mother? Sort of. I don't need another Mom in my life. My "mom" will always be the Mom who raised me. The mom who taught me all of my values, who kissed my scrapes when I fell, who held me everytime I threw a tantrum. That's my mom. Part of me does, however, wonder about my birth mother. Not necessarily about her specifically, but I'd love to find out genetics, family history, and, most of all, just to thank her. Thank her for giving me life, for leaving me where she did, and not doing anything different, because, let's face it, the other choices aren't pretty.

I know if I had a baby and had to give her up, not a day would go by without me thinking about her. Wondering if she found a happy family, worrying I did the right thing by giving her up, etc.

Honestly, though, if I had to choose, I don't know if I'd actually meet my birth mom. Makes me feel like a total chicken shit, right? I'm not one for awkward situations and I feel like it would be mighty awkward for me....

To sum it up: I hope that everyone remembers what it is to adopt. It's giving life to a child. An adopted child isn't any less of a human being, and I hope that if any of you out there can't have anymore children naturally that you would consider it.

I'm adopted, and look how I turned out! ;)