I've always thought that there is a child out there who needs a loving home. A place to go to. A tree to sit under at Christmas. A man to walk them down the aisle one day, and a woman to sit in the front pew, teary, while she watches that child move forward in life. I've always considered adoption. Not because I NEED a child, but because a child may need me. I've always thought of myself as someone who could open my heart, my home, my life to anyone...
It's never been an "if we can't have a baby naturally" kind of concept. Having a baby naturally, or not, I've always thought that adoption IS an option.
My husband has 2 adopted sisters and an adopted brother. Except, you would never know (or care) that they were adopted. They are family, siblings--regardless of how they were "born" into the family. So, for my husband, adoption is a huge option too...
that is, until Saturday night, when I stumbled on a blog that completely and utterly changed my perspective, and not for the better. I found this blog, and began to DEVOUR it. Not because it was comforting to me and not because it was interesting, but because it upset me so much that I could not stop reading it. Like a car accident on the hwy, I slowed down to look. and the jury is still out on whether that was a good idea or not. Suffice it to say, I spent the mass majority of my Sunday crying to the hubs and then to my mother-in-law (who I swear has ALL of the answers to every question I throw at her. I'm lucky to have her).
I know blogs are just one person's opinion, but even so... what if every child feels the way that woman does? What if every child really "does not want to be adopted" like I've read in some of these blogs? What if I open my heart up to a child, only to have them decided later that I've just been a "substitute" a "babysitter"?
One of the parts that I keep reading over and over, and repeating in my head, is something I read in a comment that someone had posted on one of her blogs:
"I can not beleive the rage and immaturity that comes from women who can't get pregnant. God! GET OVER IT!! Get a puupy! Being infertile makes all of you mentally ill you know that. You also act like a bunch of brats, DEMANDING a baby when you want one, especially christians who can't have their own kids. Who are any of you to NOT wait even 20 years if that is god's will and plan for you to have your own child? None of you do. You'd rather have some vulnerable young mother talked into giving HER baby to you and say it's god's will."
Ouch! That stings.
I don't pretend to know what it feels like to be adopted, or what it feels like to have given a child up for adoption, but I do know what it feels like to be a "mentally ill, demanding, infertile". I don't want to sit a adoptee down and tell them how they feel/how they should feel. I'm not going to call them brats for not being happy/grateful to have a loving family. So, why do they feel that they can call Infertiles "brats", "demanding", "mentally ill"?? And GET A PUPPY?? really?? I love my dog. She makes me laugh. She is possibly the best snuggler in the house.... she is not a baby. She does not fill that void in my heart/soul for a child. That's like telling someone with a severed artery to put a Hello Kitty band aid on it. That's not exactly going to fix the situation.
I know that we all have hurts in our lives. Some have huge hurts (domestic violence victims; returning soldiers suffering from PTSD, people who have witness death of a loved one, miscarriages, endless negative pregnancy tests, feeling of abandonment from your parents putting you up for adoption, fires, floods, Mother Nature's rage, breakups, divorces, overdrawn bank accounts, failed tests, etc). I would never sit down with that returning solider and tell him that he is being a brat for not being able to "get over it". Or telling a victim from 9-11 to "get over it", or a woman who just miscarried after her year long struggle with infertility to "get over it".
Are we all so self righteous that we have to feel that our hurt is THE WORST. That nobody else can hurt as much as we can because we have A, B, C, and D wrong with us?
Maybe the reason I can't shake this woman's blog, the reason it has affected me so much is because I (as a DEMANDING infertile) feel personally attacked. And may I ask, what exactly is so wrong with demanding what you want?
I don't like the idea of anyone hurting, for whatever their reasons may be. I don't take joy in others pain. I do not wish ill will on anyone. I think we all have crosses to bear.
And you know what? If you really think about, an infertile and a hurt adoptee are pretty much the same. We are both longing for someone that we do not know, and may never know.
I would like to say that writing this blog will get my mind off of this topic. That after I click the "publish post" button, all will go back to my previous state of mind. But, unfortunately, my perspective has been changed. And I'm afraid that I will dwell on this longer than I should.
It's never been an "if we can't have a baby naturally" kind of concept. Having a baby naturally, or not, I've always thought that adoption IS an option.
My husband has 2 adopted sisters and an adopted brother. Except, you would never know (or care) that they were adopted. They are family, siblings--regardless of how they were "born" into the family. So, for my husband, adoption is a huge option too...
that is, until Saturday night, when I stumbled on a blog that completely and utterly changed my perspective, and not for the better. I found this blog, and began to DEVOUR it. Not because it was comforting to me and not because it was interesting, but because it upset me so much that I could not stop reading it. Like a car accident on the hwy, I slowed down to look. and the jury is still out on whether that was a good idea or not. Suffice it to say, I spent the mass majority of my Sunday crying to the hubs and then to my mother-in-law (who I swear has ALL of the answers to every question I throw at her. I'm lucky to have her).
I know blogs are just one person's opinion, but even so... what if every child feels the way that woman does? What if every child really "does not want to be adopted" like I've read in some of these blogs? What if I open my heart up to a child, only to have them decided later that I've just been a "substitute" a "babysitter"?
One of the parts that I keep reading over and over, and repeating in my head, is something I read in a comment that someone had posted on one of her blogs:
"I can not beleive the rage and immaturity that comes from women who can't get pregnant. God! GET OVER IT!! Get a puupy! Being infertile makes all of you mentally ill you know that. You also act like a bunch of brats, DEMANDING a baby when you want one, especially christians who can't have their own kids. Who are any of you to NOT wait even 20 years if that is god's will and plan for you to have your own child? None of you do. You'd rather have some vulnerable young mother talked into giving HER baby to you and say it's god's will."
Ouch! That stings.
I don't pretend to know what it feels like to be adopted, or what it feels like to have given a child up for adoption, but I do know what it feels like to be a "mentally ill, demanding, infertile". I don't want to sit a adoptee down and tell them how they feel/how they should feel. I'm not going to call them brats for not being happy/grateful to have a loving family. So, why do they feel that they can call Infertiles "brats", "demanding", "mentally ill"?? And GET A PUPPY?? really?? I love my dog. She makes me laugh. She is possibly the best snuggler in the house.... she is not a baby. She does not fill that void in my heart/soul for a child. That's like telling someone with a severed artery to put a Hello Kitty band aid on it. That's not exactly going to fix the situation.
I know that we all have hurts in our lives. Some have huge hurts (domestic violence victims; returning soldiers suffering from PTSD, people who have witness death of a loved one, miscarriages, endless negative pregnancy tests, feeling of abandonment from your parents putting you up for adoption, fires, floods, Mother Nature's rage, breakups, divorces, overdrawn bank accounts, failed tests, etc). I would never sit down with that returning solider and tell him that he is being a brat for not being able to "get over it". Or telling a victim from 9-11 to "get over it", or a woman who just miscarried after her year long struggle with infertility to "get over it".
Are we all so self righteous that we have to feel that our hurt is THE WORST. That nobody else can hurt as much as we can because we have A, B, C, and D wrong with us?
Maybe the reason I can't shake this woman's blog, the reason it has affected me so much is because I (as a DEMANDING infertile) feel personally attacked. And may I ask, what exactly is so wrong with demanding what you want?
I don't like the idea of anyone hurting, for whatever their reasons may be. I don't take joy in others pain. I do not wish ill will on anyone. I think we all have crosses to bear.
And you know what? If you really think about, an infertile and a hurt adoptee are pretty much the same. We are both longing for someone that we do not know, and may never know.
I would like to say that writing this blog will get my mind off of this topic. That after I click the "publish post" button, all will go back to my previous state of mind. But, unfortunately, my perspective has been changed. And I'm afraid that I will dwell on this longer than I should.
Lynsey, I think you are a strong and wonderful person. I can't imagine having to deal with the struggles of having children. Shame on the person who said those nasty things. I hope one day you are blessed with a child whether through pregnancy or adoption. You will be a great mother.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I always wanted to adopt too. Until I read the memoir The Mistresses Daughter by AM Holmes. Then I found that A LOT of other adoptees seem sullen and have negative feelings about their being adopted. It hurt me so badly that It made me reconsider the entire idea that I'd held for so long about adoption. I actually cried so hard about it.
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