Thankful by Maressa Mortimer Isn’t it amazing, the amount of special days and weeks we have. Mother’s Day, Book Day, and this week it’s National Adoption week in the UK, whilst November is National Adoption Awareness Month in the US. (Not sure why we only get a week!) For me, every week is adoption week, and has been for the last seven plus years. I love the idea of Adoption Month being the same one as Thanksgiving. Looking at my four precious children, I feel overwhelmingly thankful. We often joke, and explain that the reason our kids are so amazing is that we, unlike other parents, actually got to choose our children! I’m grateful for the way they have enriched our lives, as well as keep our washing baskets filled up permanently. I love to hear their chatter and laughter, making my quiet evenings very precious. My children are happy, content and lovely, but adoption is a story of grief and loss. It is proof of the resilience of our children that they can thrive, in spite of losing everything. During the Lockdown we all experienced a slither of what fostered and adopted children have gone
through. It’s losing what you have always taken for granted, helpless to prevent it from happening to you. Think about key areas in your life: family, friends, home, work, hobbies, possessions and food. If you were asked to give up one key area, which one would you choose, and feel you’d still have a good life? Familiar foods, or maybe your hobby? During the Lockdown we found certain foods couldn’t be had, so we ate a wider range of foods. Hobbies had to stop for a while, as they involved going places. It wasn’t pleasant, but life was still fine. We went for extra long walks each day, to reduce stress levels and help us all to smile. Now pick another area. Would you move away from your home, and the neighbourhood you’re familiar with? Or would you rather do without friends? And lose another key area... Would life become too stressful? We have all felt the effect in recent months, where we were unable to see family and friends, and many people shared how their mental health had - 50 -
