So, I was watching Oprah a while back and she had Will Smith and his entire family on her show.  The family was there for the release of the karate kid and as well to talk about why the Smith family remains strong when so many other celebrities and regular people can’t seem to keep it together.  There was one moment that touched me so deeply that I had tears streaming down my face. (this happens 90% of the time when watching Oprah)  Oprah asked Will, if it was true that he flew home every weekend (13hr flight one way) from China to spend time with his first son Trey Smith while filming the karate kid?  Will responded with a resounding yes, it is true.  It was a life changing experience for me and just thinking about it bring back the emotions I felt watching the show.

For some reason days later this emotional exchange was still on my mind and I was joking around with a friend of mine and was talking about the episode and said that I wish I could be adopted by the Smith’s.  She then said jokingly, you should blog about it.  I sat there and thought about it, I am a grown woman, I really don’t want the Smith’s to literally adopt me but I would like to know the feeling of having that kind of fierce, openly expressed, parental love.

In realizing this, it helped me to see that I can’t change the past or expect my parents to be the fairytale story that I created as a child.  Instead I can only focus on who I want to be for my daughter and that is to be her soft place to fall.  I can adopt some of the things that the Smith family does instead of sitting there wishing that they would adopt me.  It reminded me that we build a life by deciding how we respond to what happens to us rather than just accepting what happens to us.

No more talk of being adopted, instead lets see what great tools and advice we can adopt from others.

Celebrating life and love,

Gina