the adoption journey....

I wrote this at the request of my Birthmother for an adoption event she spoke at last year.  This is our story, but it is also the story of countless others whose lives have been affected by adoption.

The Adoption Journey

By Donna J. Ridge

There is a journey called life,

Full of twisting and turning.

No one can predict it,

Still our hearts are yearning.

To know and be known.

To love and be loved.

While making a difference

With gifts from above.

Mothers and Daughters,

Fathers and Sons.

A family tapestry

That makes us all one.

But not every story

starts so great.

Some are interrupted

By a thing called fate.

Birthmothers give birth

To sons and daughters

Then surrender them up

Like lambs to the slaughter.

Always loving

But never knowing

If their little lambs

Are thriving and growing.

Their hearts cry out

“Take care of my baby.”

They have to trust

This other lady.

This woman called “mother”

Not by birth, but by choice.

Who opens her heart

With cause to rejoice.

One Mom is complete

The other’s pain goes deep.

One rocks her baby.

The other cries herself to sleep.  

Years pass by

She always wonders.

Until one day

A call comes yonder.

Fate steps in

The child comes back.

The circle is complete

Now there’s no more lack.

Now their eyes see

There’s enough love for all

Birthmother, Mom, and child

Standing tall.