“I viewed infertility as a problem to be solved. ‘If you choose to adopt, your child will always have two sets of parents and families. You’re just going to have to deal with it.’ So much for a spoonful of sugar with our medicine. I scribbled out ‘adoption’ as a choice.”
“My dad NEVER let me down. He never promised anything he couldn’t keep. When you think about it, I had my adoptive parents my whole life. They just couldn’t call me theirs until it was legal to do so.”
“Don’t assume a man or a ring can make you feel the love and acceptance you’re longing for.”
“I kept saying ‘when we become foster parents’ and Tristan was still in the ‘if.’ I was starting to feel like this was never going to happen. Then we got a call about two brothers. With a doubt, God had called us to foster care.”
“I was in a shoe store with my mom, talking to strangers in what I thought was Spanish. I’m not bilingual, but in my mind, I thought I knew the language. I’d been off my whole life, but I never knew why.”
“It was back to square one. I had to learn to sit up, roll over in bed, get dressed. The one single aggravating moment I remember well was trying to put on my socks, which felt like an impossible feat. It literally took over an hour. It was never easy.”
“After 10 hours of labor, they placed her in my arms. As soon as the nurses left the room I turned to my husband and said, ‘What do we do?’ I was terrified. Everyone told me my motherly instincts would kick in. 3 years in, they still haven’t.”
“Here I was, recently divorced from a 19-year relationship, a single mom to 3 kids. My plan was to be alone. I was not ready for dating. Well, life doesn’t always go according to plan.”
“You love them through the nightmares and trauma. You hold them when their parents don’t show up. You love them so dearly, because holding back would be so much less than they deserve. When I return the child I’ve nurtured as my own, I must trust their parents will be the best they can be. If not, I will always be there waiting, with open arms and an open heart.”
“I changed my name and perfected my accent. No one knew about my past. I exercised, dieted, tanned, toned, concealed, and accentuated—all for attention. Then I noticed muscle weakness. At that moment, I knew.”
