Poetry and Love

The Legacy of An Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother

Two different lives shaped to make you one
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name
One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried you tears

One made an adoption plan, that was all that she could do
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.


Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of?
Both, my darling, Both, Just two different types of love.


~Unknown

Two years ago, a mother, half the world away was pregnant. I don't know if she was married or single. I don't know if she was young or old or even if this pregnancy was planned or not. I don't know if she needed a son or would have been fine with a daughter. There are very many things I will not be able to explain to Claire about her birth mother or family. But there is one thing I know. She chose life. In a country where abortion is readily available she could have made a different choice. If she hadn't wanted the child to live, she could have changed that. She may have known from the beginning that she could not care for a child and would leave it or she may have had to change her plans to keep the child once the baby was born with a serious medical condition. Again, she could have made a different choice. Instead, she made an adoption plan...the only kind of adoption plan you can make in China, she left her baby where she could be and would be found. I don't know if she waited and watched to see when the baby was picked up but I believe that she knew what would happen once the baby was. She knew that her daughter would get the medical attention she herself could not provide. She knew what would happen once the child was discovered. How she would be taken to the orphanage and given food and a bed. She knew that the child would get the surgery she needed and would later be put up for adoption. She may even have hoped that her daughter get to go with one of the American families that she knew took children out of China all the time. I don't know. But, she chose life and in that one decision, she loved our daughter.