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For you adoptive mothers - I thought it was beatiful...
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Alyson & David
Sep 6, 2000, 2:21:35 PM9/6/00
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> Courage of the Heart
>
> I sit on the rickety auditorium chair with the camcorder on
> my shoulder and I can feel the tears well up in my eyes. My
> six-year old daughter is on stage, calm, self-possessed, centered
> and singing out her heart. I am nervous, jittery, emotional and
> trying not to cry.
> "Listen, can you hear the sound, hearts beating all the
> world around?" she sings.
> Little round face turned up to the light, little face so
> dear and familiar and yet so unlike my own thin features. Her
> eyes look out into the audience with total trust . . . she
> knows they love her. Eyes that don't look like mine.
> "Up in the valley, out on the plains, everywhere around
> the world, heartbeats sound the same."
> The face of her birth mother looks out at me from the
> stage. They eyes of a young woman that once looked into mine
> with trust now gaze into the audience. These features my
> daughter inherited from her birth mother . . . eyes that
> tilt up at the corners and rosy, plump little cheeks that I
> can't stop kissing.
> "Black or white, red or tan, it's the heart of the
> family of man . . . oh, oh beating away, oh, oh beating
> away," she finishes.
> The audience goes wild. I do, too. Thunderous applause,
> and they rise as one to let Melanie know they loved it. She
> smiles . . . she already knew. Now I am crying. I feel so
> blessed to be her mom . . . she fills me with so much joy that
> my heart actually hurts. The heart of the family of man
> . . . the heart of courage that shows us the path to take
> when we are lost . . . the heart that makes strangers one
> with each other for a common purpose . . . this is the heart
> Melanie's birth mother showed to me. Melanie heard her from
> deep inside the safest part of her. This heart of courage
> belonged to a sixteen-year-old girl . . . a girl who became
> a woman because of her commitment to unconditional love. She
> was a woman who embraced the concept that she could give her
> child something no one else ever could . . . a better life
> than she had.
> Melanie's heart beats close to mine as I hold her and
> tell her how great she performed. She wiggles in my arms and
> looks up at me. "Why are you crying, Mommie?"
> I answer her, "Because I am so happy for you and you
> did so good all by yourself!" I can feel myself reach out
> with tendrils of love and hold her with more than just my
> arms. I hold her with love for not only myself, but for the
> beautiful and courageous woman who chose to give birth to
> my daughter, and then chose again to give her to me. I
> carry the love from both of us . . . the birth mother with
> the courage to share, and the woman whose empty arms were
> filled with love . . . for the heartbeat that we share is
> one.
>
> By Patty Hansen
> from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul
> Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark
> Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen
> No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any
> manner whatsoever without prior written consent from
> Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises, Inc.
>
> I sit on the rickety auditorium chair with the camcorder on
> my shoulder and I can feel the tears well up in my eyes. My
> six-year old daughter is on stage, calm, self-possessed, centered
> and singing out her heart. I am nervous, jittery, emotional and
> trying not to cry.
> "Listen, can you hear the sound, hearts beating all the
> world around?" she sings.
> Little round face turned up to the light, little face so
> dear and familiar and yet so unlike my own thin features. Her
> eyes look out into the audience with total trust . . . she
> knows they love her. Eyes that don't look like mine.
> "Up in the valley, out on the plains, everywhere around
> the world, heartbeats sound the same."
> The face of her birth mother looks out at me from the
> stage. They eyes of a young woman that once looked into mine
> with trust now gaze into the audience. These features my
> daughter inherited from her birth mother . . . eyes that
> tilt up at the corners and rosy, plump little cheeks that I
> can't stop kissing.
> "Black or white, red or tan, it's the heart of the
> family of man . . . oh, oh beating away, oh, oh beating
> away," she finishes.
> The audience goes wild. I do, too. Thunderous applause,
> and they rise as one to let Melanie know they loved it. She
> smiles . . . she already knew. Now I am crying. I feel so
> blessed to be her mom . . . she fills me with so much joy that
> my heart actually hurts. The heart of the family of man
> . . . the heart of courage that shows us the path to take
> when we are lost . . . the heart that makes strangers one
> with each other for a common purpose . . . this is the heart
> Melanie's birth mother showed to me. Melanie heard her from
> deep inside the safest part of her. This heart of courage
> belonged to a sixteen-year-old girl . . . a girl who became
> a woman because of her commitment to unconditional love. She
> was a woman who embraced the concept that she could give her
> child something no one else ever could . . . a better life
> than she had.
> Melanie's heart beats close to mine as I hold her and
> tell her how great she performed. She wiggles in my arms and
> looks up at me. "Why are you crying, Mommie?"
> I answer her, "Because I am so happy for you and you
> did so good all by yourself!" I can feel myself reach out
> with tendrils of love and hold her with more than just my
> arms. I hold her with love for not only myself, but for the
> beautiful and courageous woman who chose to give birth to
> my daughter, and then chose again to give her to me. I
> carry the love from both of us . . . the birth mother with
> the courage to share, and the woman whose empty arms were
> filled with love . . . for the heartbeat that we share is
> one.
>
> By Patty Hansen
> from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul
> Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark
> Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen
> No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any
> manner whatsoever without prior written consent from
> Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises, Inc.
I am Kosmo
Sep 6, 2000, 3:03:22 PM9/6/00
to
That's beautiful Alyson! My good friend has two adopted children. Her husband
always says how lucky their boys are to have two mothers who love them so much.
One who loved them enough to give them a better life, and the other for loving
them enough to take care of and cherish them forever.
always says how lucky their boys are to have two mothers who love them so much.
One who loved them enough to give them a better life, and the other for loving
them enough to take care of and cherish them forever.
Jennie
thoringto...@gmail.com
Oct 25, 2012, 12:03:18 PM10/25/12
to
We will never meet nor do I want a reply. I found this lovely prose while doing a research project for my graduate studies class. I am an adoptive mother of a wonderful beautiful 24 year old daughter. Your prose spoke the language of this momma's heart. Thanks for posting it!
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