I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to work and a little vignette made me cry. Story Corps is a project where NPR is recording little exchanges between family members. Today's was a father and his adopted daughter and it made me cry. You can listen to it or read the story here. The girl was a hoot, completely precocious and adorable. Her father was silly and at the same time, tender.
I feel like I've always been called by adoption and I think part of that might be my rationalization of it in my own life. To me, when you are adopted that means you are wholly wanted. A person or a couple make a conscious decision to bring you into their lives, love you, care for you. There is no accident in adoption.
Don't get me wrong, I was WANTED by my mom, my grandma, my grandpa, my great-granny, but there is still a part of me that knows I was not totally wanted by my biological father and I forgive him this.
My biological father helped make me and for that I'm grateful but there are not a lot of other nice things I can say about him. When I talk about my dad, I'm referring always to my stepdad who wanted me more than the man who helped give me life. And that is a precious gift. I love you, dad.
"When I talk about my dad, I'm referring always to my stepdad who wanted me more than the man who helped give me life. And that is a precious gift"
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful sentiment.