An interesting comment was made at our daughter’s wedding a couple of weeks ago. A neighbor of theirs was attending the wedding. Afterward he and his wife approached me and introduced themselves as my daughter and son-in-law’s next-door neighbor. He indicated how much his family enjoyed having my daughter’s family next door. This neighbor also knows my other adult daughter because she watches her birth sister’s children Monday through Friday. After he introduces himself, he says, “I knew immediately that you were their mother because they look just like you.”

I smiled, agreed with him, thanked him, and then talked about heading to the reception. Actually, this was a big step for me in working towards adoption privacy. I am usually always looking for opportunities to talk about adoption and foster care to recruit new foster parents. In the past, I would have jumped on an opening such as this. That was before I began reading Faith’s blogs on privacy in adoption.

This was my daughter’s day, not mine, so I didn’t want to take anything away from it. Later, I told my daughter about her neighbor’s comment. She smiled and asked if I told him that she and her sister were adopted. I told her that I didn’t think there was any reason for her neighbor to need to know that she and her sister were adopted. She agreed, but thought she might tell him anyway so they could have a good laugh over his comment.

I was pleased to learn that my daughter and son-in-law were well liked in their new neighborhood. Sometimes you wonder when you adopt older children, specifically teenagers, if you will be able to have much influence on what kind of adults they become. I know that my adult daughter is a wonderful, devoted mother; she has a great work ethic, and apparently runs her household well. I can tell you that these traits were not ingrained in her prior to turning 13 and joining our family.

Here is a picture of us together taken in May when we were dedicating our daughters. What do you think?


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