Replies to '12/25 The Locator: Reunion Aftermath'

Why in the world would anyone want a bunch of cameras around for something like this?  When that meeting day comes, you are already very nervous; you don't need a bunch of strangers watching. Oh, well, to each his own.

I never went looking for my birthfamily; they went looking for me. When they found me, I agreed to start corresponding with them. I'm fine with letters and email, but I'm very shy and not a people person at all, so the face-to-face meeting with some of them was mentally exhausting for me. It went fairly well for a while, until I ran out of things to talk about, then it was awkward.  I've seen 2 or 3 of them about once a year or every 2 years, but never met the biological mother, and the biological father doesn't know I exist. Honestly, sometimes I wonder what I got into. That family is nothing but DRAMA 24/7. Maybe they need to be on Dr. Phil!

I've kinda backed away from them because I don't need that drama. I had the unfortunate luck of being raised by 2 people who didn't have any business raising a child. It was WW3 in my house every day growing up, we were poor, my 'dad' was a selfish tyrant who didn't care anything about me, and openly resented me, and my mom stayed right with him and took his abuse, hoping he'd change. I had a very sad, lonely, chaotic childhood which I blame 95% on them.

So yeah, I was a typical, spoiled adopted kid. Not. I always laugh when people say how lucky and spoiled adopted kids are.  I guess in the 70's they let just anybody adopt. I've said on here before that I'm glad the process is so hard now. It needs to be, so others won't have to grow up like I did.

I understand that lots of people grow up in dysfunctional and/or abusive homes, but I consider it an extra hard slap in the face to be adopted into one.