Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. It's a very special day in which we honor mothers, grandmothers and stepmothers--unless you're a wicked stepmother and then you don’t get honored, but you do get representation in almost every Disney movie.

On this day, I'd like to take a moment to wish one mother in particular a very Happy Mother's Day: Sweet Pea’s birth mother. (Sorry, mom, I know you thought it was going to be you. You’re good too. Bang up job on both of your kids, really nice work).

I don’t know the circumstances surrounding Sweet Pea’s birth mother’s decision to give up her daughter. Maybe she was waiting for a son. Maybe she already had a child and the one child rule in China prevented her from having another. Maybe she wasn’t married. I don’t know. I just know that a very selfless mother in a country very far away brought my child into this world and I imagine this day can’t be easy for her.

I went into the adoption under the impression that we were doing something really great and really commendable. We were going to free Sweet Pea from the orphanage and give her a better life. But in the end, it was Sweet Pea who gave us a better life. The moment she was put into my arms, she transformed a couple into a family, she became a sister to Floyd, and two years later, she became a big sister to Lovey.

And she made me a mother.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there who, like me, are doing the best that they can do. I hope you get fat ass, crazy expensive presents and maybe a minute to yourself today. And Happy Mother’s Day to Sweet Pea’s birth mother, who gave me the best gift of all.