Personal Narrative: How Adoption Changed My Life

A lot of times when someone finds out I have been adopted they apologize, as if they had anything to do with it or that being adopted is such a terrible thing. I was adopted from a family that could not take care of me so I was very thankful for the second chance I was given. Adoption is the act of taking something on as your own and in my case it refers to the legal process of becoming a non-biological parent. Adopting a child is not an easy process and it takes a while to complete. Since my adoption, my life has been drastically different and the changes that overcame my life still affect me to this day. I grew up playing a bunch of different sports in the dirt field across the street from my trailer. My favorite sport growing up was football. …show more content…
The environment I grew up in was a very poor one to say the least. Most of the time our heater and air conditioner would not work and we would be stuck battling the elements. I recall many times that we got a snow day from school, all the other children would be happy but me because I knew I was going to have to stay in a freezing cold trailer all day instead of a nice warm school. I grew up with my two siblings, older sister Erica and younger brother Michael. We are really close and I think that is because growing up we were all we had. We had been through some pretty rough situations, but we worked together well and we were smart so we held our own. We did not have the best parents in the world and they did not always attract the best company. I watched my dad get into multiple fights growing up and a lot of things younger children really do not need to see their parents doing. That all changed once I got adopted. After I was adopted I was surrounded by all these good, happy people and I did not really know how to take it at first. My heater and air conditioner always worked. I got to spend my snow days cuddled up next to a fireplace drinking hot chocolate like all the rest of the children. What changed the most out of my environment was the people I was in contact with. My new mom worked as a teacher and she would always have her coworkers over every Saturday …show more content…
My mindset growing up was more of a survival mindset than anything else. When I was younger, I did not see it because that was what I was brought up in so I did not know of anything else. Every one of my friends growing up were from the same neighborhood as me so we all had the same outlook on most things. We used to steal from the convenience stores on Friday after school, not because we wanted to be bad kids, but just because we were hungry and we knew our parents were not about to spend a couple dollars on some candy. The night I was taken from my birth parents changed my mindset forever and motivated me to never put my children through something like that. Once I was adopted, my mindset was more of me trying to take advantage of the second chance that God had given me. Yes, I did miss my adventures with my boys back in my old neighborhood but I was really just thankful to be out of that situation and have a fresh start. The first time I went to the grocery store with my new parents, they explained to me that if I want something, all I have to do is ask. This may not seem like a big deal, but it was to me back then. I did not have to steal anymore, which made me happy because I always felt bad after I had taken some candy from the Kwik Shop. Instead of focusing on my survival, I was able to focus more on school and sports, especially football. I knew that the only way for me to get out of my city