You are Adopted! NOT!

Yesterday, I shared a story with you from my teenager years as I delivered newspapers.

Let me share with you another story today. Again on this day, my brother and I were feuding about something—I can’t really remember what the issue was at the time. All I remember is that I had had just about all I could take of my brother that day.

Finally, in total frustration, I said to him, “You do realize that you are adopted, don’t you?” The look on his face was priceless. I think it was a mixture of confusion, doubt, and concern all rolled into one. Well, I knew I had him penned against the ropes at that point. So, I continued, “Yeah, have you ever noticed how Mom and Dad don’t have as many pictures of you as they do of me? They’ve never figured out how to tell you that you are adopted, so I figured I should go ahead and be the one to tell you.”

Remember, at the time, I was 16 years old. I was frustrated at my brother. And, before you think my crime went unpunished, let’s just say when he told my parents what I had informed him of, my Dad didn’t let anything go unpunished. I never told my brother that again.

I shared this story once in a sermon in a church I was serving. After the worship service, a deacon and his wife came up to me, with a huge grin on their faces. The woman spoke, “You know, we had six children. I believe every one of our children made a point of telling the one younger than them the same story about being adopted and using the lack of photographs as proof.”

So, I had to ask, “Why is it that parents take less and less photographs of the children who come along after the oldest one.” I loved their answer, “Well, with the first one, it is all new. There’s a level of excitement and enthusiasm. You can’t take enough pictures. But then the next one and the next one comes along. But this time, you are tired. Bone tired. Plus, you’ve taken just about every kind of picture you can take! What’s left to photograph?”

If you visit my son's blog, you will see tons of pictures of him. I fully understand taking pictures of children and can tell you, it only gets worse as every day goes by. Now with digital cameras, the amount of pictures are limitless!

Warning, don't visit his site until you love adorable baby pictures! Okay, you've been warned.