My first mother gave me roots, my forever mother gave me wings. I like this statement - it is one that was posted on another blog, the blogger being an adoptee. Many days I honestly forget that I did not carry MK for nine months and actually give birth to her. Just like the boys, she is a part of me, no doubt. One day, Mason-Kate will ask about the lady that gave her life. She will be curious of how she came to be, whose tummy she grew inside of and the circumstances surrounding her first 14 months of life, her life before her family. Most everyone has a story they have been told about the day they were born. Mine goes something like this....on the day I was born, my father received his only speeding ticket ever while rushing to my mother's side. My mother, who was being driven to the hospital by a friend, got to one hospital and was told that they were out of room so she had to proceed to another hospital - me being me, I have always been the different one, the one who doesn't do anything like her brother and sister including being born in the same hospital as those two. My mother arrives finally at a hospital with room, they take her back and she gives birth to a strikingly beautiful (ha!) NINE pound baby girl with more hair than most teenagers. The nurses cleaned me up and very carefully tucked me into a hospital gown that was not made for strikingly beautiful NINE pound babies, I took my first real good deep breath and, POP, I busted out of the gown. That is my story. That is the one I have been told since I can remember talking about how I came to be. That is the one that I will tell my children. MK's story will be unique, she will ultimately have TWO stories. Her first story, the story of how a lady, one who lives a world away, gave her life. The second story, the one with endless details, the one with multiple parts including the adoption decision, the paperwork, the surprise call, the first time we were able to see her picture; the one where we tell her of how we heard her little voice as we walked off of the elevator, the one where she was "birthed" right into the arms of her family - the family that will teach her how to fly.....my first mother gave me roots, my forever mother (family) gave me wings.