He Would Be 16, But I’m 55

He Would Be Sixteen (actually, I’m 55), but it’s the title of a song about adoption by Michelle Wright. The lyrics are below. 

November 9, 2018 was World Adoption Day. This has become an annual blog for me. Check out the other two at World Adoption Day and Jesus was Adopted. Also check out www.worldadoptionday.org. I was adopted at six months of age. 

I’ve been interested in finding out if I have other “family” out there. I’ve had non-identifying information since I was in college. That’s when I learned my love of working with my hands (woodworking) may have come from my birth father. 

A few years ago I received identifying information, so I have the name of my birth mother. It has been an interesting journey of deciding how to proceed. Do I look them up? Well, through the many ancestry websites and social media, I may have found them. I wrote a letter, but it was returned. 

Here are a more songs and quotes that have great meaning for me

• He Didn’t Have To Be by Brad Paisley
• Another Man’s Gold by Dean Brody
• Life Changes by Thomas Rhett
• “You were our dream come true. The first time we saw you, you were our son. You were born in our hearts, not anyone else’s.” Queen Helena in A Christmas Prince (Netflix) 
• Being a parent wasn’t just about bearing a child. It was about bearing witness to its life.
• Adopting one child won’t change the world: but for that child, the world will change.
• Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. It’s something quite magical. Nicole Kidman
• I have four children. Two are adopted. I forget which two. Bob Constantine
• By choice, we have become a family, first in our hearts, and finally in breath and being. Great expectations are good; great experiences are better. Richard Fischer
• Adopted. Big Deal; so was Superman. Chris Crutcher
• They may not have my eyes, they may not have my smile, but they have all my heart.
• There are no unwanted children, just unfound families. The National Adoption Center
• My birth mother brought me into this world, but it was my adoptive parents who gave me life. Christina Romo

Michelle Wright – He Would Be Sixteen

She gets in her car, October Friday night
Home from work down 31, past Franklin High
She can see the stadium lights, she can hear the band
A thousand crazy high school kids screamin’ in the stands
Quarterback and homecoming queen
Love too young to know what it means
She goes back in time, oh in her mind, it’s like a dream.

He would be sixteen
The son she never knew
It hurt so much to give him up
But what else could she do
He would be sixteen

A child should have a home; she knows her folks were right
She never heard the couple’s name, just that they were nice
She wonders if he’s taller than his father was
Does he drive a car by now, has he been in love
She shakes back to reality
She knows things turn out the way they should be
But she just can’t help but ask herself
“Does he know about me”?

He would be sixteen
The son she never knew
It hurt so much to give him up
But what else could she do

He would be sixteen
She never even got to hold him
And nights like this is hurts to miss
A son she’s never seen
He would be sixteen