Hi guys. My name is Adam. I'm 14 years old. My parents are doctors. My sister is three years
older than me. We're a happy family. We have lots of fun together. We always look on
the bright side of every situation. Unfortunately, something
very upsetting happened recently! It made me realize that you can grow up
and mature in a matter of days. My uncle and his family lived
in another city. They visit us once or twice a year, always bringing us gifts
when they come. During their last visit, they brought us
a box of chocolates that they had bought in Belgium. We finally understood,
why Belgian chocolate is so famous. They were also delicious,
so we ate a little too much. My mom had to take the box
away from us. "If they're that good,
don't finish them all in one sitting." "You can only have one per day, and I'll give them to you", she said. We weren't happy,
but she was the boss, and we knew that she wasn't
going to back down. The next day when my parents
were at work, we remembered the chocolates, not that we ever stopped
thinking about them. Where could my mom
have hidden them? If we managed to find them,
she'd be angry, but we also knew that it wouldn't be
long before she forgave us. So we started looking for the chocolates, but we couldn't find the box anywhere. It looked like my mom was really
serious about hiding it. We started looking
in the least likely spots. When we were searching through
my dad's desk, we found a key that looked really old. There was a wooden box in his room. My dad had worked at a hospital
in Afghanistan at some point. We knew that my parents were often
writing to each other then. All the letters were inside that box. Could my mom have hidden
the chocolates there? We opened the box with the key, and bingo! We were so happy,
and started eating right away. Meanwhile, my sister started jokingly
reading a letter that my dad had written. "My beloved, the days are short,
but the months don't seem to end." "I have missed you so much!" So I started going to the box to find a letter
from my mom to read as a response. I came across a folder. I showed it to my sister,
and read what said on it. "Child Protection Services
Adoption Department" We looked at each other in confusion. Would we be crossing the line,
if we opened the folder? But we couldn't stop. My mom came in, just as we were
about to open the folder. But she didn't say anything. She just gulped. In a very calm voice, "Go to your rooms, both of you!" she said. "We didn't look inside. I know what we did was wrong. but aren't you going to tell us
what's going on?", my sister asked. My mom didn't even look,
and just showed us the door. "I said go to your rooms!" We left without saying another word. We had kind of figured it out. When I went to my room,
I immediately googled, "Child Protection Services
Adoption Department" Just as I thought,
these documents were about adoption. I texted my sister the link. She replied with another link
about the same subject. She was also trying
to find answers online. My dad came home soon after. We didn't know what was going on, but the house was very tense. We were waiting anxiously in our rooms. I heard my mom call my sister. Then I heard the front door closed. Where could they have gone? I was so curious, just then
my dad came in. He said, my mom and sister
went out for a walk. He was being really quiet
as if he didn't know where to begin. A few times he cleared his throat,
but still didn't manage to say anything. Finally, he took a deep breath, "Adam, I want this to stay between us, at least for a while", he said. I was getting more and more nervous. I didn't want to hear the rest. Why couldn't they have told me
I was adopted? Didn't they think that
it would come out eventually? Tears started falling from my eyes. I wasn't crying, I just couldn't stop
the tears from falling. My dad looked at me, "Adam... it's time you learned the truth, but promise me that you won't tell your sister that she is adopted. This is really important. Deal?" he said. Wait a minute? It's my sister who was adopted?! I looked at him in shock. I should have been happy because I'd felt so sad
when I thought that it was me, but it was my sister
who was adopted! That idea was so painful. This meant that my sister wasn't
my real sister, right? She would be so sad if she found out that I wasn't
her real brother. Of course, I couldn't tell her this even if my dad told me to tell her, I would keep this a secret forever. I couldn't bear making her sad. The next few days were very difficult. It was as if my sister and I had made
a pact not to mention that day again. but I could see that the love between us
was even stronger now. She was coming to my room a lot, making all these weird faces
to make me laugh. I knew that whether or not
she was my biological sister, she was my real sister! In fact, I started to love her even more after finding out that
she was adopted. People naturally love their siblings, but loving someone
you're not related to was so much more meaningful. Don't you agree? Pretty soon, we were as happy as
we used to be. I had already forgotten about
what had happened. In fact I was planning on saying
to my dad, "Let's tell my sister everything. It really doesn't matter that
she's adopted. I love her more than a biological sister!" Just around that time,
my dad came into my room. "We think that your sisters
should learn the truth. However, we have a favor
to ask you. We'll talk to her, but first we wondered if you'd like
to write her a letter, telling her how you feel?" Normally, this would be
something I would refuse, but I was happy to do it. Yet I realized that writing
such a letter was a lot more difficult
than I expected. Yes, from my perspective
nothing had changed, but what was my sister
going to think when she found out that
she was adopted? How could I explain this
without hurting her? I thought about it for days. I'd start and erase it over and over. I didn't even have
the first sentence. Then I had an idea. If she was adopted, for how long had she been my sister? I mean, was she here
when I was born? or did she come after me? I tried to remember our oldest memory
to figure this out. There were so many memories
from the time when I was a toddler. but which one was the oldest? I decided that the one that
I barely remembered must have been the oldest. In this memory, we're somewhere
where there are a lot of kids. We were running towards something. I don't know where this was. Like I said, I barely remember it. I trip on something and fall. Only one of the kids stops. The one who stops is of course my sister. She helps me up checks if my knees are
scraped, and then picks me up,. then we start running towards
the other kids. I started my letter with this memory. "You've been my sister all this time,
and you'll always be my sister." I continued, "Not having the same mother
does not weaken our bond, but only makes it stronger." I started crying, telling her how much I loved her, how I'll always love her, and that nothing will change that. Every word I wrote was true. I just wrote whatever I was feeling. Finally the big day arrived. My dad texted me during the day, asking "Is your letter ready?" When I said that it was, "You can give it
to her tonight", he said. It wasn't tense at home anymore. It was like we were all finally relaxed, and in a really good mood. When my dad signaled me with his eyes,
I knew it was time. "Let's meet in my office", he said. My sister was there, when I entered. The wooden box that started it all
was on the desk. My parents were smiling. I had put the letter in an envelope. I gave it to my sister. She was shocked! She gave me a piece of paper too. When I opened it, I saw that it was a letter
that started with "My dear Adam". I was so confused. Why did she write me a letter? We went to opposite
corners of the room to read. I couldn't believe my eyes. My sister was saying that
I was adopted! Just like me, She had written about how much
she loved me, and that whether or not, I was her biological brother
made no difference to her. After reading, we first looked at each other, and then to our parents. My dad took out the adoption papers
from the box, and told us to come closer. He showed us the folder. Yes! We were both adopted. It wasn't just my sister. I was adopted too! My sister and I looked at
each other. We couldn't help it,
and started laughing. There was no distinction between us. We were in the same boat. We shared the same fate. We hugged each other, then my parents joined in, the four of us hugged for a while. Then we went to dinner. My parents apologized
for keeping this a secret. They said they were going to tell us
when the time was right, but that the chocolates
had accelerated the process. When the whole thing began, my mom called a psychiatrist
that she works with. She said this wasn't her specialty, and asked the child psychologist
to help out. That's how this idea of letters came up. My parents thought it was a good plan, so they took action. Well you know the rest. We learned something else
that day too. My parents had intended
to only adopt my sister. They didn't know about me. But my sister didn't want
to leave me behind. She threw herself on the floor, crying, "He is my brother. I won't leave
Adam here," she kept saying. Apparently she named me Adam. We're not sure, but we think that it's a name
from her biological family. My parents caved in,
and decided to adopt us both. As you can see, we were really siblings
from the beginning. Thank you for listening to me. If you want to share something
that happened to you, and that really affected you, send an email to the address
in the info section. Bye!
