adoption

I've been thinking a lot lately about adoption. I'm sure this thought process was brought on by the most recent book I've been reading, Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult. She's my absolute favorite author of all time 1. because I can never put her books down (I had to stay up until 2 A.M. reading this one and had visions of big scary men stabbing me in my bed) and 2. she had this freaky way of knowing exactly how humans react in every circumstance, even though she's never experienced it. She can write about parents of children with autism and terminal diseases as if she had really lived that life and suffered the hardships of it. Also her novels always have some romance and I'm a hopeless romantic so I guess that helps, too. But I digress.
I believe that adoption is such a beautiful thing. It's like goodwill. You look at a piece of clothing and think eww, how in the world did I ever wear that so you chunk it to goodwill to see if anyone else will find it attractive. And they do, they find it and think that they have never experienced such a beautiful thing in their life. And they wear it all the time to show it off and aren't ashamed at all to say yes, I found this at goodwill because they love it so it doesn't matter where it came from. I know that motherless children are much more important than a tacky dress you find at goodwill but it paints a picture for me.
So I've decided that when I get old I want to adopt children. In fact, I even had a thought yesterday that I could adopt a child from every race and then we could make family pictures and they could be an advertisement for the It's A Small World Ride at Disney World (which is possibly the most annoying ride I've ever experienced solely due to the theme music and the tone of the children's voices while singing that sends shivers up my spine and almost makes me want to punch a wall. But I like the theory of the ride.) Also, did you know that Asian children are the most adorable children in the world? It's true. The same goes for Asian old people. They're all adorable.
I want to have a super big family when I get older. Don't get me wrong, our famliy gatherings are super fun sometimes but it's usually like my family and one aunt or one uncle. And I love them all but I've always pictured a huge dining room table with 16 chairs and every chair filled with another table in the outer room for all the kids and I can host my whole family and play games like Mafia and Rook tournaments. And I know that's like a megaload of money we're talking about but I don't really have to be rich to be happy, I'd rather have a big family and get by than one child and have a ton of money. But that's just my opinion.
And I conclude with some of my favorite quotes from Jodi Picoult.


"There's always going to be bad stuff out there. But here's the amazing thing -- light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can't stick the dark into the light." 
- Change of Heart


"I, um, I have this problem. I broke up with my boyfriend, you see. And I'm pretty upset about it, so I wanted to talk to my best friend... The thing is, they're both you." 
- Nineteen Minutes


"Love is not a because, it's a no matter what."
- Second Glance


"When you love someone, you say their name different. Like it's safe inside your mouth." 
- Handle With Care


"Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back." 
- Second Glance


"A mathematical formula for happiness:Reality divided by Expectations.There were two ways to be happy:improve your reality or lower your expectations."
- Nineteen Minutes


"Life sometimes gets so bogged down in the details, you forget you are living it. There is always another appointment to be met, another bill to pay, another symptom presenting, another uneventful day to be notched onto the wooden wall. We have synchronized our watches, studied our calendars, existed in minutes, and completely forgotten to step back and see what we've accomplished." 
- My Sister's Keeper


"There are all sorts of experiences we can't really put a name to...The birth of a child, for one. Or the death of a parent. Falling in love. Words are like nets--we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, grief, or wonder. Finding God is like that, too. If it's happened to you, you know what it feels like. But try to describe it to someone else--and language only takes you so far." 
- Change of Heart


Read some Jodi Picoult, I promise you it's worth it.