I remember the famous questionnaire I would get asked when any new person found out I was adopted.

“Do you know your real parents?”

“Does that make you sad?”

“Why didn’t your real parents want you?”

“Is your brother your real brother?”

All irrelevant things to the bigger picture and that is that someone cared enough about me to take me into their family when they held no obligation.

Of course I know my real parents, because I was adopted at only a year old by my maternal grandparents. I called them Nana and Pawpaw and still do to this day, but they are better parents to me than my birth parents ever could have been. I still remember crying for my mommy every night when I laid in bed after she left town when I was only a few years old. I didn’t see her for over ten years. Of course, my dad was around quite a bit, but he still was not father material. I feel that being adopted is the best thing to ever happen to me, but others aren’t so lucky and never find this realization.

So I have compiled a small list of reasons why being adopted is such a wonderful thing.

1. Someone chose YOU! Let’s face it, you and I both know that your adoptive parents had no obligation to choosing you, but they did. They cared enough to provide a safe and loving home for you.

2. They would rather have you than a quarter of a million dollars. Research shows that the average parents spend approximately $245,000 from birth to 18 years on their child. That shows just how important you are to them. Your adoptive parents would rather struggle along and penny-pinch so that they can provide for you than be without you.

3. You have been provided a chance to build strong bonds with good people. I know my birth mother, and at least two friends whose birth mothers are nomadic. They are constantly moving from place to place leaving everyone behind. Is that the life you want? Or would you rather have the stability you have been provided? Living in the same home for the entire span of your childhood, spending all your school years with the same friends, and having a better social life.

I hope this gives you some insight as to why you should appreciate adoption instead of staying hung up on why your birth parents gave you up. I have so many things to be thankful for, but the biggest blessing to ever occur in my life are my Nana and Pawpaw adopting me as their own.