Alison Larkin, in a recent article mentioned how guilty she felt after giving birth to her first child.

"Unlike the mother who raised me, I got to grow my own baby. Unlike the mother who gave me birth, I got to keep it."

Alison is an adoptee who performs a one-woman comedy routine called, "The English American". She plays herself, her adoptive mother, and her birth mother in her hilarious performance. The especially poignant comment above was made after the birth of her first child. When she had trouble getting pregnant, she felt very empathetic towards her adoptive mother. Then as she was in the hospital after giving birth, she was able to imagine how it must have been for her birth mother to not take her home.

The current issue of Decree Magazine which is published by the American Adoption Congress ("AAC") had a very funny article written by Alison that I thoroughly enjoyed. I found a link for this article as it was originally published in Adoptive Families Magazine.

I first discovered Alison a few years ago here in California when I attended her an adoption event which included her performance of "The English American". Her performance was brillant, and did an excellent job of highlighting some serious adoption issues in a far from serious manner.

Alison had no interest in searching for many years, nor did she acknowledge any adoption issues. Then, something changed, and she decided to search. Her search had a dramatic affect on her life and she became aware of how much her adoption had affected her life. Although Alison grew up in England, her birth mother lives in Bald Mountain, Tennessee. Since I grew up in Tennessee, I particularly enjoyed that aspect of the whole scenario.

The contrast between her very proper English mother, and her other more down to earth mother in Bald Mountain, Tennessee, is, as you can imagine, very striking. Needless to say, once she met her birth mother, her life became way more complicated. Her ability to deftly shift from role to role in her comedy routine is wondrous to behold, and she is hysterically funny.

Her article talked about the challenges of parenting for some adoptees. First, she struggled with becoming pregnant. This allowed her some empathy towards her adoptive mother. Then she related that after giving birth to her son, she was reluctant to let him out of her sight. She was keenly aware that sometimes mothers lose their babies and do not take them home.


To Be Continued......................................