Mysterious Origins:

[jrittenhouse]

A very good op-end in the NYTimes on adoption; nature versus nurture and the misty past:

I AM not adopted; I have mysterious origins.

I have said that sentence many times in the course of my life as an adopted person. I like it so much I put it into the mouth of a character in the novel I’m writing. The character and I are both fond of the idea.

Comments

[klutch_kargo]

Thank you for posting that!

[jrittenhouse]

Well, 's true.

My wife Susan's family (both sides) are pretty poor to lower-middle-class, and she and her mom (and her mom's sister Marlyce)are the white sheep of the joint. They rose above all that, and excelled. And she and her mom talk about so-and-so, and they go on about how they would have been something special if they had had some education - not a drunk, bitter mess.

I sometimes wonder what sort of lives that the twins would have had if they had remained in the Orphanage in Jiangmen; not a pretty existence. Here, they can play at being princesses and roll around in Disney jammies and eat their favorite ice cream...

[zurcherart]

That's cool.

(I was adopted as a child many years ago, my origins will remain shrouded in mystery.)

[jrittenhouse]

I think that sometimes, all kids wonder if they were really adopted; it's screamingly obvious that I wasn't. (Family resemblances and all that.) Part of that is when they have some sort of clash with their Parents Who Just Don't Understand, and they'e Sure That the Real Parents Were More Like Them And Far More Romantic.

[zurcherart]

I never wondered because I always knew ... I never really fantasized about better real parents, cause I figured--or was told--that my real parents couldn't care for me so nuts to them.

Lately though I wonder if they got rich and remained childless and need an heir.

[jrittenhouse]

*snort* Well...

In the case of the twins, I assume that their parents were dirt-poor.