This seems to fit right in with my current theme of learning things, online, from people who were adopted at some point in their life. I was just reading my morning news blurbs.

We don't often hear from (or listen to?) teenagers. You have to be eighteen to post on the forums due to legal considerations. It's great to learn from adults who have been through those tumultuous teenage years and come out on the other side, hopefully, wiser. I personally don't frequent any sites specifically made for teenagers, so I don't get the "in" on what our youth think about their own adoptions or adoption in general.

Enter this article which, while about international adoption, provides us a great look at how things could turn out for those who are willing to be open and honest:

Every time I mention that I am adopted, people give me a look of pity as if that’s a bad thing. What I’ve learned is that it is anything but a bad thing. It is a blessing. I was so loved that my birth mother gave me up to give me a better life. I know that my adoptive parents wanted me with all their hearts. Going to a scary country to bring me into their lives proves that family means a lot more than whose blood you share. I feel I have the best of both worlds. I couldn’t ask for a better family, and now that I know my biological siblings, I have a connection to my roots and am finally able to see things that once were a complete mystery.

Does this teenager sound confused? I don't think so. I mean, I was a teenager once. It was a confusing period of time and I wasn't adopted. So often we have many people, for one reason or another, saying that adoptions, especially ones who have connections to their biological families, are too confusing for children or teenagers to handle. Do we see that in this young girl's writing? I don't think so.

I personally see a strong spirit, reinforced by the parents who love her on a day-to-day basis, supported by biological ties and growing into who she will become as an adult. It's not an easy time for any child! Yet thanks to this Mother who realized that keeping information from her daughter could backfire in the end, she's helping to form a woman who is secure in her own being.

Isn't it refreshing?

Personally, I'm sad that this girl has experienced the "looks of pity" from strangers. However, the fact that she is willing to speak out, on the internet, and show that she has nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of... she's helping to spread the word that adoption isn't an inherently evil or confusing thing.

It's teenagers like this that remind us why we set out to provide open and honest communication, even when it hurts us to our very core. (On any side of the triad.) It's teenagers like this that continue to give me hope that we're doing the right things by the Munchkin.

Things like this are available on the internet for you to read and learn from; that's why the web can be so beneficial to us. This is one positive story that I'm so glad to be sharing.