..................................This is a story about a Man and his wife. And everything in between................................
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Amy here,
Hello all. I have been waiting for quite some time, obviously, for something interesting to write about. I have been living the same crazy busy life for 23 years and don't often have things happen to me that I think others would find interesting. But on this Father's Day, I think I do have a few things to tell you... So sit back, and listen to a little more of my story, a story that is dear to my heart.
As you all know I have very loving parents. I was adopted as a newborn and brought into a home full of love, inspiration, and a deep dedication to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have a beautiful mother, green-eyed and freckled. Anyone who has the chance to meet her leaves a better person simply because of who she is and inspires them to be. She was married long ago to a man, who I still call Dad. (With the number of dad's I have this may get a little confusing, so try and keep up! As my mom always says, "Aim, they're just another person to love you...") He is a man with a good heart, a kind smile and always willing to tell me stories. Something I have always looked upon with fondness. He has loved me since the moment he met me, and is always willing to be there when I need him. My mom and him for one reason and another, didn't work out. They were divorced when I was about 2 and continued down separate paths. A happy ending to that story is that they both found people who made them as happy as they could be. All things, I have learned, happen for real purposes, sometimes unbeknownst to us.
My mom remarried when I was three. The two of them put 10 children together almost all of us under one roof, trying to make life work and learning what real life is all about. This dad of mine, taught me things that only he and I would understand. He insisted that I learn to work hard, love others and never, ever run from my mistakes. He is one of the strongest, most heroic men I know. I love him more than words can say.
I have been blessed with many father figures, and for this I am eternally grateful to a Heavenly Father that has blessed me so richly with good, solid men. Men that I can look to and rely on for strength and guidance whenever needed.
As it is Father's Day I find this blog post very fitting. As an adopted child, you have a heightened curiosity, I would say. There are questions in your life that will cannot be answered unless you hunt for them. Sometimes you will be lucky enough to have the answers stumble upon you, but more often than not that is not the case. And in mine, I was left guessing.
My mom knew the Wetstein family who knew of a young lady who was about to give birth to a baby that she could not care for. It wasn't because she didn't love this child (as I have come to know now) but the circumstances would not allow her to keep this baby. She had decided to give her up, hence me. My mother came and picked me up from the hospital, and one could think that my life story would end there, but if it did I probably wouldn't be writing this now would I.
The summer before I turned 18 I decided now was the time. I needed to know who my birth mother was. After long conversations with my mom about why I wanted to know who she was, she through various avenues was able to call her. My mom telephoned her and this is how the conversation went... (it is still in my head to this day)
Mom "Hi, do you have time for an important phone call"
Birth mom (names protected for the privacy of the people I love:)) "Yes..."
Mom "I am the woman who adopted the child you gave away almost 18 years ago....."
Can you imagine receiving a phone call like that? I lost it, started to cry and prayed for real strength, and I had real hope that she would love me for who I am, and who I hope to be one day. We talked for quite some time about life and experiences we had had. I remember her voice sounding much like mine although I was jealous of her Canadian accent because I had lost my own. We have remained friends over the years, and although we come from very different walks of life, she will always hold a special place in my heart for who she is and what she has given me.
Talking with her answered so many questions, filled so many holes. However there were a few more I didn't realize I needed patched up until recently.
That curiosity that I mentioned earlier is a strange thing. It can consume you and take over your every thought if you let it. Something an adopted child always wonders is who they look like. Most children can look at their parents and they can pinpoint where their nose comes from, which grandparent their eyes are from... Adopted children cannot. Although I learned so much from my birth mom, not every answer was there... She did me the greatest service and found my birth dad for me, after 23 long years of wondering and not knowing.
I have had the greatest blessing come into my life! I have prayed for years to know and understand who he is so that I could in turn understand parts of myself. When I first saw his facebook page, before we had talked and before I really knew who he was... I looked and saw his pictures and realized, wow... those are my eyes, thats my smile, I knew who he was instantly. In order to contain myself, I kept telling myself all the ways that I didn't look like him not to get my hopes up. Later that day while I was at a bridal shower I received a message from him telling me exactly who he was. I will never truly be able to explain in words what that feels like. But knowing, finally knowing, ties up so many loose ends. I feel whole, complete. Almost as good, you could say, as the day you say I do. Adding a period to the end of a long long long run on sentence. A period that isn't a way to end something, rather to close one novel and start on another.
I know that I am watched over by a God much more powerful than we realize. I know that I am cared for, I am loved and I am grateful for the dads that love me, each and every one. Each of you has changed my life and made me the woman I am today. I love all three of you for the different positions and places you hold in my heart.
I hope you know that I feel privileged to be your little girl. (Each of you...)
I have one final shoutout to give... And that is to a father to be (LET ME CLARIFY! THIS IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!!) my dearest Skyler. He has supported me through every decision I have made. He is my rock, my everything, my sweetest laughter and my favorite person, hands down. One day we will have our own children and there is no one else I would rather celebrate then him. He truly deserves it. Thank you, my sweetheart for everything you are with me, on your own, and everything I know you will be. Love you always...
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