Sarah Jentz
Le Mars, IA
I am Caucasian and the biological daughter of my parents. My parents made the decision to adopt when I was 4-years-old. In case anyone is wondering, the coolest thing you can ever tell a 4-year-old is that her brother is coming on an airplane. My brother is South Korean, and therefore we look nothing alike. But to me, my brother is just my brother. It wasn’t until college that I realized I needed to explain that. I am from a small town where everyone just knew who my family was. When I entered college I would put pictures of us on my wall, and people would just assume he was a friend or a boyfriend. I do not blame them for this at all, but at the time I had never realized that I would have to explain my family to anyone. That was the first time it occurred to me that my family looked nontraditional in their eyes.
I came to understand that my family is different, but this difference opened my eyes to adoption and nontraditional families at a young age. I played with more Korean kids when I was young than most people will probably meet in their entire life because we would have pot lucks with other families had adopted in our area. I feel blessed that my parents made this decision because I cannot even wrap my brain around not having my brother or my other friends in my life. It just does not make sense to me.
Side note: Never take your ethnically different brother out to supper. Every waiter will believe it is a date. It happens every time, and every time it is awkward.
