Blessed are you little one,
whose first mother disappeared 
without saying goodbye.
You didn’t yet understand
that her leaving 
was all about her, 
and not about you.

Blessed are you,
sweet redheaded child
whose birth father
took a walk after dinner
and never came back.
His choice to abandon you
meant growing up 
without an answer 
to the inquiry of so many strangers.
“Where did you get your lovely red hair?”
they would ask,
and you would wonder for years,
“Where did I come from?”

Blessed are you 
who did not remember
being left with 
your Latvian grandmother—
who gifted you 
that one-of-a-kind
ginger-toned gene.
Without the truth
to the question of origin,
you created birth parents 
of Irish descent
who lived only within
your private Ghost Kingdom.
This made a way
to shut down the questions—
the ones in your head
and those of the kept.

Blessed are you 
who awkwardly towered
over your adoptive mom 
in fourth grade.
At age seventeen 
you would discover
a reflection of yourself 
in the height and shape 
of your biological mother.

Blessed are you,
beautiful teen girl,
who hated her body and hair 
and longed to blend in
with family and friends.
You felt like you didn’t belong 
and kept searching 
for who you might be.
Beneath all the masks
you just wanted someone 
to stay and to love you
the way you deserved.

Blessed are you 
who had to defend and protect herself 
when others broke their promise to do so.
You spoke up 
with incredible boldness and strength—
yet another gene passed to you 
from your redheaded Grandmom.

Blessed are you who 
buried the pain to survive.

Blessed are you 
who headed to college
without the support of your parents.
They said, “Go be an adult,”
and declared their job done.
They couldn’t 
see you drowning 
in layers of invisible trauma,
trying to outrun
the fear of abandonment 
and feelings of loss.
You were chasing goals and achievements
while trying to please all the people.
Abandonment and secrecy 
clothed you in darkness
so even you couldn’t see
you were already enough 
just as you were.

Blessed are you 
who found yourself 
in what some call “reunion,”
long before DNA searches 
entered the scene.
In this new space of reality,
you discovered that adoption 
is not just a triad,
but a vast constellation. 

Blessed are you
who felt so alone
in the home 
where you were raised,
but discovered a whole new world 
in extended biological family. 
It stunned you to learn
they lamented your absence
for all those years.
The ones who called themselves
“mother” and “father” 
still didn’t show up for you
in this unexpected new chapter.
But the grandmother, 
great-aunts,
uncle and cousins
changed your life
with their love and affection.
Helping you see 
that you were 
wanted and loved—
more than you ever imagined.

Blessed are you,
the one who survived 
the years of feeling untethered.
You are now courageously
choosing to heal 
and belong to yourself.
You are wanted.
You are loved.
You belong and you are safe.
This resilience you’ve built
is now the foundation
for seasons of growth 
ahead on the horizon.

Blessings and peace to you,
my dear inner child.