Don't call me brave

Something I've realized recently is people will tell you how brave you are when they hear you adopted. This isn't something that bothered me too much until it was all I was hearing all the time. Literally anytime I said my kid was adopted the compliments ranged from "oh you're so amazing" "you're changing that child's life" and "you are so brave". Don't get me wrong, I love hearing I'm amazing as much as the next girl does, but hearing it 24/7 because you did a human act is kind of annoying. I get that adoption isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it still is a way of becoming a parent for a lot of people and is all we see it as. I don't see my adoption as a huge heroic thing, sure I stepped up in a time when no one else would, but it wasn't because I wanted complimented. I stepped up and adopted my kids because I already felt in my heart that they were mine and I knew that is what was right. People who adopt are a special breed, I will give us that, but we don't do anything different than other parents. We wake up and take care of our kids and try to raise well mannered human beings and hopefully they know they're just as loved as biological children are. I also hope they realize I didn't adopt them just so people would compliment me. I want them to grow up and forget they're adopted, to be so loved that they just forget that they weren't born from me. I want them to know that I didn't have to be brave to be their parent and that I wasn't the one changing their lives they were changing mine.