The one that has been used against me personally the most is "obsessed" as if Im supposed to separate the family of my past from the family I have today...and yet I look at the ONE SINGLE family member I have any kind of relationship with and I feel totally inadequate to do the job I know other parents must, can, and will do and that's provide her with some sense of continuity and self. I have so very little to give her...it HURTS to be told that my efforts to give to her what others take for granted is obsession.

I love the ceramics! Especially the white bowl! Wish I knew of a way to acquire a piece!

Lord, its like you authors and publishers know exactly what has been passing through my mind lately. I used to wonder what "being myself" would be like...and now that I am discovering it, no one else wants to know. Its very isolating.

Youre way too defensive for me to believe that you actually read my post with anything other than a view to attack me as an adoptee who won't fit into your little view about how adoptees should think/talk/act/POST on a blog. So I'm going to use MY mommy voice with you and tell you:

1) Youd better get out of my face with your accusations about what kind of 'assumptions' I've made. I DO have an adoptive mother, you know. Someone with whom Ive tried to keep a fairly decent and close relationship. As an adoptee I am ALL TOO AWARE of how sensitive the issue is for adoptive mothers.

2) YOUVE gone through training. HA! IVE LIVED WITH THIS ALL MY LIFE AND HAVE ONLY JUST NOW, IN MY MIDDLE AGE, FOUND THE LANGUAGE TO EXPRESS IT. YOU should be grateful that you had/have the resource at hand. Its BECAUSE of us adoptees talking that you are now part of a new process. NONE OF US HAVE BEEN GIVEN THAT.

3) Yes, they ARE friggen ignorant of it because society at large still expects ME the adoptee to shut up and be grateful. YOU do not represent society at large. You're lucky. See #2

4) Im so proud of you for being part of a group. Is that what you want hear? I'm part of a group too. Theyre called adoptees. Simple as that. We're just now learning from each other and about each other. We're mortified all the time.

5) Im sorry if you think that my view is all one sided. I could easily say the same about you. OF COURSE this conversation is ALL ABOUT YOU and WHAT YOUVE done. How one sided can you get?!

6) I reiterate: get out of my face with your high-handed attitude towards me. I was giving MY viewpoint to join in with all the OTHER variables. Frankly, woman you arent paying attention, because I havent said ANYTHING that hasnt been said by every other Adoptee on here... which is what I thought the whole purpose of this site was about.

I always tell people "its about grief, not gratitude" when I talk about my adoption. Its about the shortest way I can get to the point I would like to make about adoptees and what we go through, because I think the grief and loss that an adopted child feels is automatically shunted away by the feel-goods of the Aparents. As long as they dont have to talk about the loss, then everything is okay. I believe that once APs start to understand and address the grief that is involved, they might begin to find some parity. We westerners barely acknowledge the grief of losing people we've known in our lives (but we're getting better at it) but become all rainbows and unicorns when it comes to adoption. We've seen reams of material come out about newborns and their mothers, but suddenly adoptees aren't supposed to have the same issues. It adds to the idea that we are alien creatures who dont need the same humanity. Now that we adoptees have started recognizing that in ourselves, its hard to give the benefit of the doubt to well meaning APs. If you want to know where to start, recognize that its about grief, not gratitude.

Ive only read one of Rand's works - "Anthem" - and my daughter has read "Anthem" as well, but I may just pick up Atlas AFTER I see the movie. Its hard enough for me to sit down and read articles on the internet dealing with complex politics...lately if I pick up a book...ANY book...to sit and read, I end up falling asleep. Which is kind of upsetting to me, because I love to read, but Real Life has kept me running. Anyway, I love this scene, can't wait for the movie.

Question: Will the movie only have a one-night run in the slated cities or will it have the usual week run that other movies get? Reason I ask is I made the unfortunate choice of scheduling a trip on the 15th and I will be as far away from a chosen theatre that night as I could be (well at least for my area). Would love to know if I can see it after it opens...

Adams is one of the few female actresses I like - she reminds me in some ways of Rachel Weisz, another fav actress, both with a radiant beauty and likable personality and femininity. Ive seen Cavill in his role in The Tudors = Yowza! Sounds like I might enjoy this new Superman. Now if there were only a way to get Gene Hackman back as Lex Luthor...

He wishes to punish Texas and other states for their lack of support during his presidential run, and because Texas (for one) is a state that is prospering much better than a lot of other states. Not only are we not drilling, we are not building any more refineries and the ones we have are running at 100% capacity. Wont matter how much oil we drill if we dont build refineries to process it.

The Unforgiven

Herod in The Quick and the Dead - he and Russell Crowe stole that show right out from under Stone's feet...(thank God...)

I remember only ever wanting to see The Conversation because Harrison Ford had an eensie bit part it in. Now I will have to watch it for the REAL actor in it :D

Working on it! Thank you for your work!