10/20/2023
“Whenever I say that I am adopted, people always show a lot of interest. They think that it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread. What those people don’t always understand is that adoption isn’t simply the ‘coolest’ thing. It’s much more complex than that. I love my family and adoption is an essential piece of my identity, but I have struggled to process my feelings as an adoptee. It hasn’t always been easy for me.
In college, I was doing well. I was getting good grades and I had a great group of friends. It seemed like my future was falling into place. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the last piece of the puzzle was missing: meeting my birth mother.
During winter break, my family and I decided to take a leap and travel to Thailand to meet her. I contacted Holt’s post-adoption department to ask for more information about what the adoptee birth search process would look like. Holt was incredibly supportive through this process, offering me resources on how to safely reach out and tips for traveling. The post-adoption team also met with me before connecting me directly with the Holt team in Thailand.
After a few days in Bangkok, we flew down to Krabi to meet my birth mother. Just before we were about to meet my mother for dinner, I began questioning everything. I was nervous, stressed, sad and uncertain.
And then, all of a sudden, it happened: I met my birth mother. At that moment in time, everything stood still. Twenty years of my life came full circle. I found my missing puzzle piece. I can’t explain how it felt. But that picture of us, reunited, is truly worth a thousand words. For years, I had wondered how my mother could say goodbye to her child. But at that moment, I realized that my birth mother made the ultimate sacrifice to give me a chance to live the life she always dreamt I would have. For years, I thought she had forgotten about me. And for years, she went to the temple almost every day to pray that we would meet again. She never gave up on me; she had hope for the both of us when I felt like there was no hope at all.”
~ Taylor B., Holt adoptee