Last week, I received the most unexpected and touching gift. A ten year old girl who had heard about our adoption decided to forego her birthday gifts and ask for donations instead. You see, Haley truly has a "heart of hope." Her mother explained in an email to me that her daughter decided a few years ago to use her birthday gifts to make a difference in the world. Each year, she chooses a cause that she cares about and asks her friends and family to contribute in her name. This year, she wanted to help us become a family.
"Haley has a real heart for adoption and has been told how expensive and difficult it can be," writes her mother. This sentence moved me deeply. It begs the question, "Who told her?" Who told Haley that some people struggle more than others to create a family? Who taught her to find satisfaction and joy in giving so unselfishly? Who modeled the kind of empathy and compassion this little girl possesses? Who raised a child so full of love that she doesn't need a pile of presents to have a happy birthday? And who gets to look at this beautiful girl every day and thank God for the miracle of her? Haley's gift is more than a generous check, it is the fruit of a well tended family. The gift speaks volumes about the power of the love between parents and children- the love Jamie and I wait anxiously to experience.
Haley is an everyday angel. She barely knows me...We were in a musical together this summer. I saw her as a pretty and watchful little girl, with a lovely singing voice and a sweet smile . She did stand out to me as soulful and quietly radiant. I remember pointing her out to my nephew, who was also in the show, as a girl who seemed really nice and mature for her age. I wonder who I was to her...
"Fantine," the character I played in Les Miserables is a woman in need. She is a poor, struggling mother who dies and leaves behind her beloved child, Cosette, whom Jean Valjean adopts. I found it strangely stirring to sing the words, "Take my child; I give her to your keeping," during the death scene. Each time, those lyrics would snag at my heart and remind me that someone, somewhere far away, would feel the loss and the relief of handing their child over to my own loving arms. It seems so right that little Haley and her gesture now truly connect that experience of the musical to my own parenthood.
Haley may never fully understand the impact that her kindness made on us, but she will forever be a part of our adoption story and our child will know her name and her compassionate spirit.
"To love another person is to see the face of God." -Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
