I Believe in Angels

I believe in angels, and every Thanksgiving, I shout out an extra special 'thank you' to mine.

My Angel and many like her roam the same Earth we do. One may be sitting next to you on the bus or standing in front of you at the grocery checkout. She may even be your mother or grandmother.

My Angel is my middle son's birth mother, and she doesn't wear wings or any other special designation advertising that she's my Angel. In fact, no one but a few people may even know she's an Angel at all.

I should know the statistics, but I don't. But I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of angels like mine in the world. And no matter what circumstances brought them to the place where they needed to decide "to be an angel or not to be," each and every one of them is so very special: special to that child whom they gave life to; special to the adoptive parents to whom they gave the greatest love to; and special to the world, who owes them a very big thank you for making a selfless sacrifice that creates an exponential joy in it.

It was a warm Thanksgiving Day four years ago when we picked up our newborn baby boy, and, speaking for every member in our extended families, none of our lives would have been complete without him. So, a few days late, I'm sending out to the universe, to my Angel and to all who have made the same choice of hope: thank you.