Where did I come from?

So you are probably wondering who I am? What’s my background? What’s my story? “Where did I come from?” You may remember having this book as a kid but the versions we had in our house growing up was ‘Why was I adopted’

I was born in the small country town of St Arnaud, Victoria and not even seen or held by my birth mother as she had made the decision during her pregnancy that I was going to be put up for Adoption. Only now as a mother of 2 do I even have any comprehension of how hard that would have been. I was then in a foster home for about 6 weeks before being adopted by my Mum and Dad and became the 2nd of 4 adopted children that make up my crazy family!! My parents were always very open and honest about the fact we were all adopted and as a result there was never any secrets or big reveals and was just something I grew up thinking was normal because it was for us. As a result I have been always open about sharing this with others.

Being adopted wasn’t the only unique thing about my family. My dad is Chinese so my maiden name was Lau, a very common Chinese name! Given I had blonde hair and blue eyes, I was clearly not Asian but growing up in a small country town in the 80s where diversity was non existent left my siblings and I wide open for being teased about it! Not so fun at the time but great for building up resilience! My younger brother is also half Chinese so when there was the three of us kids people would often just assume that my mum had remarried and had my brother…. then my younger sister (also blonde hair and blue eyes) came along and got everyone all confused again!! This confusion also carried into my dental career where I was often greeted with confusing looks when I came out to greet new patients who were booked in to see Dr Lau! I have lost count of the number of times I have been told I wasn’t what they were expecting and even once remember being told “I was expecting to see an Asian man!”

So for me being adopted is my normal and I wouldn’t have it any other way. No one family is the same and I like to embrace and encourage diversity of all kinds because what is normal anyway? I am grateful to be surrounded with so many people I call family and love them all.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mums out there.

Love Yasmin oxo