I am writing in response to your Love Grows post from Christmas Day.
I think I might have what you're looking for.
It should be available on March 1. Or around March 1.
Six weeks ago Jill's mom announced she was going to participate in an open adoption. It hasn't been quite one year since Jill's dad was killed in a car accident.
I've tried convincing myself it has nothing to do with me. It's Mom's right to do this. Yet I can't help thinking, Am I not enough? Mom and I have had our issues...It has occurred to me that she sees the baby as a do-over. A chance to correct my failings and to finally have a child that's all hers.
Eighteen year old Mandy Madison Kalinowski is eight months pregnant. She knows she can't ever return to her mom. She met Jill's mom on an adoption website and agreed to the open adoption. The only communication they had was through email. Now that Mandy is in Denver, she's not sure what she should do.
Maybe I should tell her that I have doubts, too, that there are small moments when I remember July and feel sure what this baby is evidence of and want to keep it. That it's the only evidence I have. And that's why, in the end, even though there are those small moments, I want to protect it by keeping it far from me and where I've come from.
How to Save a Life eloquently describes how Mandy and Jill arrived at this very moment, which will affect how they deal with this life-changing situation. I think it's a delicious read that teens should read with a parent to have some important conversations.
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
*teenage pregnancy, language, issues of sexual abuse
Not available at NOLS...yet!
