Dear Ben, Love Your Adoptive Father

This is a letter from a dad to his son, written on the day he and his wife finalized the adoption and welcomed Ben into their family forever.

Dear Ben,

Last night you went to sleep around 7pm, following a quick 4oz bottle, diaper change and a dozen kisses from your Mom and I. Today, you woke up to a similar routine of bottle and kisses. It will be an ordinary start to the day for our family with one exception; it’s your adoption day.

Today is the first day we have been able to celebrate as an official, legally certified family of 3.  We are driving from West Dennis to Cambridge for a 9am court appointment.

Your Mom and I often lay in bed at night and talk about how lucky we are. Of course, we did not plan to have years of struggle starting a family.  We did our best to stay positive, optimistic and committed to our family plan. I will never forget the day we received the call and the day we first met. These are memories I will treasure forever. You have enriched our lives in ways that neither your Mom nor I could have ever imagined.

There are times I wonder what would have happened if your birth mother chose a different family or made a different decision.   Then I am around you and I am reminded that we were meant to be a family. You can call it fate, or god’s will; we know you belong with us.  As you know, you were not born from your Mom’s belly, however you were brought into this world via the love of many individuals including your birth mother, Mom and Dad. I promise you that most days you will never even think about being adopted. But when you do, I hope you know how much you are loved.  Although there are many other adopted children in this world, you are truly special.

Our promise to your birth mother was that we would love you, and raise you to be kind, happy and strong.  In addition, we made a promise to always portray her in the most positive light, for the sacrifices she had to make and for placing your interest above all. Your Mom and I hope you are as proud of our family and your adoption as we are.

Finally, we want to thank you for your love, laughter, cries and smiles.  Thank you for letting us be your Mom and Dad.

Love always,
Dad