Grateful for all my parents

Please take the time to read this amazing story I found on itsaboutlove.org. You will be glad you did.

Tyler, adopted as an infant

I have so much to be thankful for, and I owe it all to my many parents: my birth parents, adoptive parents, and heavenly parents.

I believe God had a personal plan for my life before I was even born. He knew I would be raised by a mother and a father who would provide for my spiritual and temporal needs. However, I had to join my parents in a different way.

My birth mother and father were teenagers with little to offer a newborn son. So they gave me the greatest gift they could have given: they let me be adopted so that I could have a better life than they could have provided at the time.

My adoption was confidential, as almost all adoptions were in the 70s. From the time I was very young, my family talked openly about the fact that my younger sister and I were adopted. My sister and I knew it wasn’t by accident that we were members of our family—it was somehow part of God’s plan. We felt that deeply.

In my youth I often reflected on the woman who had the courage to give me a better life. I wondered what she looked like, what she liked to do, what things we might have in common, and if she ever thought of me. But honestly, these issues were mostly a curiosity and did not consume my thoughts. What I hoped for most was that this beautiful woman, my birth mother whom I had never met, would know that I had an incredible life because of her decision. As a young child I would pray for her and thank Heavenly Father for her. I knew her decision affected every day of my life. I had been an innocent, helpless child, and she had enabled me to have everything I valued most.

During college, a friend and I discovered that we were born two days apart in the same hospital. One day while visiting my friend’s home, her mother related an experience to me. She told me that when she was in the hospital to give birth to her daughter (my friend), she met a teenage girl. She said the girl was extremely beautiful, with long black hair, but she looked very sad and was crying. When my friend’s mother asked what the matter was, the young woman said she had come to the hospital to give birth and place her baby for adoption. This young woman was my mother. It was a personal miracle for me to be able to learn that my assumptions were correct all along. She did care about me and had made the choice she felt would benefit me the most.

Of course, the fact that I was raised by an incredible mother and a father instead of one parent didn’t make me a saint or a perfect person. However, I was given every physical and spiritual opportunity to become what I believe my birth mother would have wanted me to become. Throughout my younger years I was so grateful for a mother and father who respected parenthood and who made it possible for my mother to stay home with my sister and me. I know I likely would not have had this opportunity if I had been raised by my birth mother.

I am grateful that my father was able to be a daily presence in my life. The relationship I built with him stands to this day. He was my best man at my wedding and has always been my best friend. My four children adore him.

Although I had a closed adoption, I was told my birth mother had one wish: she wanted me to participate in music. Until I left home for college, I tried and tried to be musical—piano, band, singing—but nothing really stuck. Because of my birth mother, I hoped to find a wife who was gifted in music. It turned out that my wife minored in music, teaches vocal lessons, has directed musicals for our church and community, and uses music in our home to teach our children about the Savior.

Today I am active in my church, a father to four children, a husband to a wonderful wife, and the son of adoptive parents and a birth mother who love me. Yes, from where I stand now, I know I have been richly blessed. I am so grateful to all of my parents for making these blessings possible.

I told you. Good stuff, huh?