When Boo Met Mommy

All children are curious about their birth. Adopted children seem to have a keener sense of their existence and relationship to their birth that is hard to define. Then, there will be a conversation like this, and then you can hear a melancholy that seems beyond his years:

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a farmer. I'm going to give the hens lots of eggs."

"What do you mean? Why are you going to give them eggs?"

"They don't have . . . well . . . How do hens get eggs?"

"Honey, hens are mommy chickens and eggs are their babies."

"I know that, mom. But how do the hens get eggs?"

"Well, all females can make babies in their tummies."

Silence.

"I wish you were my tummy-mommy. I could meet you when I was born."

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