In preparation for our annual adoption & foster care conference, I had been going through books to decide which ones to bring for the book sale. One of the first ones I came across was Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born written by Jamie Lee Curtis, which was so exciting and heartwarming because it was a very well-loved book in my family.
My parents have always been open about adoption to me and my siblings, and my brother’s adoption has always been an important part of my family’s story.
Like many families, mine would read together before bedtime. I remember my brother, sister, and I would cuddle together in one of our beds and listen to my parents read us stories. This particular book was one of our favorites. It’s a picture book about a little girl asking her parents to recount all the details about her adoption and is quite reminiscent of my brother’s own story.
My older brother was adopted as an infant while my parents were living in Singapore. My parents have always been open about adoption to me and my siblings, and my brother’s adoption has always been an important part of my family’s story.
Obviously, children love hearing stories about themselves, and my brother’s adoption story was probably our favorite. We relished in all the details. How my parents only had a few days to prepare for his arrival, as they were only notified about him days before his birth (the adoption process has changed a lot since 1995!). How the hospital staff couldn’t stop giving him hugs and attention because he was the most perfect, beautiful baby. How the family dogs were so excited to see him for the first time. How our grandparents made the long, long trip to Singapore just to meet him. How my parents loved him so much as soon as they saw him.
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born was always a wonderful reminder about how important all these little details are for someone who was adopted. When there aren’t a lot of details about the birth mother, which is my brother’s case, it can leave a gap in a child’s history which can be very hard for them to process. Though this doesn’t completely replace it, hearing about the adoption story provides a lot of comfort and joy. It is a reminder about how special the child is to their family.