Im 57 years old, and here I sit blogging about my feelings now that my mom has died. I write about this to somehow free my mind of the thoughts that plague me daily. The thought that I am still the stranger within my family. At least that is how it feels to me. I have felt this way as far back as I can remember having memories. I would say before turning 2 years old I can remember feeling alone. Feeling like I had been left at someone elses house, and was waiting to be picked up. I spent most of my childhood hiding, in the closet, under furniture, and looking back now, I truly was hiding from the sadness of feeling like I was amongst strangers. Analyzing this now, knowing what I now know, since moms death, I have confirmed this because nothing earth shattering happened to make me feel differently about my position in this family before mom died. What I felt as a baby is real, I am the stranger and I have never really belonged to this family is how it feels to me.
My parents were known in the community and they cared what their peers thought about them . I truly believe that was the reason why I have been given half of my parents estate. The lack of bond between my parents and I, and how I was treated, should have resulted in me being written out of their estate. I am thankful for being included in this part of their lives, it will make our lives easier, but I often wonder how it would feel to be loved, truly adored and cared about by my own parents. To look like them, to be like them, to be part of their family, and to be able to say that our children look like dad, grandpa or anyone in thier family would be amazing. To never feel the pain of being treated differently because I was not born into the family.
We went to dinner after moms funeral, my entire family and this was discussed, about how my sisters son looks like dad. And other similarities in the family. Here I sat with my husband, and 3 grown children, our daughter has a baby girl, our son is expecting a baby in December. Do they not see or understand that we cannot really participate in this discussion? Dont they wonder who my kids look like? Wouldnt that be amazing for them to be even a bit conscious of how left out we all feel when they talk like this and how strange they become if I do mention who looks like whom in my family? Why are they NOT interested to know who we all look like, and why would they be so selfish to think we only care about who they look like? I didnt hatch from an egg, I am not some alien that fell from the sky. I do have birth parents and many sets of grandparents. This adoption was not my choice, and I did not choose to be excluded or treated like a stranger. A stranger is someone who is not familiar, an outsider. Trust me when I tell you that no adoptee ever wants to feel this way. I just dont know if it is possible to change this within my family, as my efforts and hard work have not proven to be successful in these 57 years. I have to admit failure and realize I cannot force others to love and accept me as their own.
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