Families

I just finished reading the book Attaching in Adoption by Deborah Gray. It was a very fascinating and incredibly depressing read. Gray, a clinical social worker, talks about how adopted kids often have stunted emotional growth because of lack of, loss, or interruptions in their attachment to their parental figure. She described many of the problems and gave a lot of suggestions for parents to work through them.
But she also described normal emotional development and attaching, something that often is taken for granted unless there is a problem. (Or unless you're currently dealing with separation anxiety and calm yourself by knowing that it is just a phase of growing up!) While many of her suggestions will probably be useful once Eirena's sibling joins our family, for now I am just thankful.
I am thankful for families, stable ones where many children can grow emotionally and be appropriately attached. I am thankful for resilient children that can learn to attach when they come to a forever home. I am thankful for parents that are willing to develop this in their child. But most of all, I am thankful for my family.
Because my upbringing was so blessed, I didn't really have to think about these issues (in a personal way). I was not the unwanted child of unaffected parents. I was not the 'oops' of teenagers. I was not born with alcohol or drugs in my bloodstream. My parents didn't give up on me. They were not too poor to care for me. It really isn't something to take for granted.