Heroes

I last told you of a letter that I received around Thanksgiving that happened to be from the twins mother. It was a lift that was not expected and quite welcome to say the least.

It was a thick envelope because it contained more than just a letter. There were pictures and newspaper clippings from this past year. They are very handsome boys and I can see similarities they have with folks in our family. I am struck most at how much they look like their paternal Grandmother. I mean, it is just uncanny! I love to see pictures of them because we have two boys of our own and I can see features that they will have that are just like their brothers. This fact is something that one cannot imagine seeing when considering adoption, but here I am possibly looking at the future features of the children I am raising. Just another interesting factor to being a birth mother.

What I did not expect were the newspaper articles. It would seem that both the boys took jobs at the same place over the summer. One day, a young girl was found to be drowning in the pool and the twins were responsible for saving her life. WHAT?! They worked together to get her out, revive her and in a word ... she is alive today because of their quick reactions. Now, to say that my heart grew 10 fold would be a complete understatement. Pride, joy, fortune, permasmile on my face. Just a sampling of the range of emotions that I was feeling, and yes I know that permasmile is not an emotion but you could not wipe it off my face for a few days following the arrival of the letter. I cannot imagine how they felt after such a heroic act! Not to mention, I cannot imagine just how proud their parents were of them! What an amazing certification that you instilled good values and traits in your kids than to hear they put themselves aside to save another life. (And when I say that sentence I am speaking of their parents, of course.)


There was another article about one of the boys and his work at an animal shelter. He has told me about his passion for animals before, even stating that he might like to be a veterinarian someday. There he was, working along side a wonderful woman whom I am sure was appreciative of his voluntary work. It was a great picture and I rather enjoyed the article and what it had to say about the place where he worked. 


My two sons at home are Scouts, they are respectful of others, they know their pleases and thank yous which they even use with each other :) They are good boys who understand that life is not the same for everyone and they strive to be the best they can be. So imagine my happiness to hear such great things about the brothers they have. How wonderful is it for me to see the things that, through genes, might make me proud someday the way the twins mother is. And how wonderful is it that she was able to share that with me? To get copies of the papers, copies of the pictures and compose her own account of the heroics of her sons, well I can honestly say that her joy became my joy that day! When adoption has respect, honesty and communication it really can be a shared and wonderful experience for all involved.


And as a side note, not too long ago one of the twins wrote to me and told me that I was one of his heroes in life. Well let me just say that YOU are one of my heroes as well, kiddo!