Hey, hey, everyone. Hoping everyone is good. Hoping everyone is well. We are into a new season and I'm excited about it.

This is a more open dialogue with me sharing some things. And I did so because I wanted to open up my heart.

And I also wanted, you know, people to understand what the healing process entails

by just being honest and truthful about my own individual journey and by the title oops

i forgot to tell you you're adopted I want to take you down this whole story and I want to give you some takeaways as well.

And I know that there are some people who are adopted or may have adopted children.

And I just want to give you a perspective that maybe you haven't thought about because this may not be your experience.

And if you are a person who has been adopted, I'm sure that some things will

resonate. And I don't know. I just want you to take a listen and just be open and receptive

to what I'm about to say. I was about seven or eight and I was at school.

It was the end of the day and so we were waiting to get picked up, you know, from my parents.

And I had a cousin that ran up to me and he said, my grandma told me that you're adopted.

And I was standing next to one of my friends and when he said that I, I just remember my heart dropping and I remember

like getting cold and warm at the same time. And I was really holding back tears because number

one, it scared me. And number two, I didn't expect it. And so I remember my friend looked at me and

she said, are you okay?

And I knew that she saw that I was holding my tears and I was like, yeah, I'm okay.

And the whole day, that is all that I thought about because there was a fear that if I would have told my parents that I knew that I was adopted or even asked the question, that they

would send me back somewhere that I didn't want to go to. I think in my mind as a seven or eight

year old, a child, I thought that me acknowledging and asking, you know, my parents would lead

me to being put somewhere else because the secret was found out.

It became more evident once my brother was born.

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