Love is feeling connected and love without the connection of blood or DNA, which society thinks is the foundation of love. The love that comes with adoption is the true unconditional love. When adoptive parents hold their children in their arms, they do not think of the past or where that child came from. Yes, they remember the loss and sacrifice that a birth mother made. That child in your arms becomes a part of you, to the point you can see yourself in that child whether it is their laugh, their personality, or their funny little looks they give. That child grows to become your child, with the love that any child has for their parents without the thought of adoption.

The relationship that adoptive parents and children have is not about adoption, it is the beginning but after that it is a parent and child relationship as any another. It just blows my mind that people and society question the love that one finds through adoption. I know that my love for my parents is not based on adoption. It is a love between a parent and children. I am so much like my dad it is not funny. I’m a part of him. Through him I have learned to love animals, love nature, love life, and to a person that gives back to the world. I also acquired so many of my personal traits from him, speaking my mind, not letting people push me around and take advantaged of me, speaking out for the right thing, and (my mom says) my strong headedness..

As an adoptive mother, when I tell my bio daughter and my adoptive children “I love you”, there is no difference in the feelings that I feel for each one of them. I know that one day my adoptive children, will fully understand that they also have a birth family but I know that they will always be my children and I will always be their mother and have a place in their heart. There may come a time that I will be sharing my children with their birth families but I know my love for them is strong enough to support us in any relationship they choose to have. Love Thursday to me today is about the unconditional love that adoption brings to one’s life.