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Showing posts from January, 2014

"Hi - This is Your Mother" - an excerpt and interview with JoAnne Bennett from Adoption Reunion in the Social Media Age: an Anthology

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"The woman's voice on the other end of the line sounded unfamiliar.  As I was right in the middle of cooking dinner for my family, I paid little attention to her words, "Hi - this is your mother." Without any hesitation, I quickly responded, "I am sorry: you must have the wrong number. Again, this woman insisted she was my mother, but never specifically asked for anyone by name. Politely, I ended our call.  At the time, it never crossed my mind that the woman on the telephone might have been the woman who had placed me for adoption at birth" (an excerpt from contributing author JoAnne Bennett from Adoption Reunion in the Social Media Age: An Anthology --edited by Laura Dennis-- and now available in paperback and Kindle through Amazon.com) As a contributor to this book myself, I feel honored to have taken part in this project.  I was reading through the list of contributing authors and was shocked to realize that I know each one of them thro

Introducing Lost Daughters Anthology

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This has been a long time coming! Today I am officially announcing the Lost Daughters Anthology:  Writing Adoption From a Place of Empowerment & Peace edited by Amanda H.L. Transue-Woolston, Julie Stromberg, Karen Pickell and Jennifer Anastasi, published by CQT Media and Publishing, LGA. This book is a compilation of the best of the best of the Lost Daughters blog -- 30 female adoptee writers who chose their best essays to be included in this book. In my own essay, I describe what it feels like to experience genealogical bewilderment as it relates to ethnicity. I have always looked Italian, Greek, Spanish, Mexican, South American and/or Persian or fill in here _____for the never-ending opinions about where I came from.  Growing up with English-looking parents always made people wonder.  But nobody wondered as much as me, growing up without any access to my background information. The age-old question I was asked my whole life, "How does it feel to be adopted?&quo

Adoptee Rage and a Mother's Love

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I wanted to blog on the first day of the year but I just didn't have any good material -- so I spent the day gathering material for today's blog, unbeknownst to me, by catching up with one of my oldest, friend's, Bonnie*.   We went to the movies (We saw Gravity in 3D--highly recommend it) and did a little shopping at J.C. Penny.  (truth be told, she shopped for me, because clearly I am shopping-impaired). We had a great time -- afterwards, sitting in her car, catching up on everything from husbands, jobs, teenagers, etc.  We went deep into the conversation when the subject of her mother's recent passing came up.  We both cried together as my friend described the enormity of wrapping her brain around the fact that she will never see her mother again in this life.  I was there for the Memorial Service and I have never been the same since.  I cried a river of tears as we all passed around the Kleenex box while one family member after another stood up to give testimony