Send a Little Love: Sequel to Young Love - An Adoptee's Memoir
Bonnie was adopted as an infant. As a young mother, curiosity about her birth parents led to a 35-year search for them. Fortunately, she held on to every scribbled note and document along the way. After a successful search, Bonnie decided to tell her story. Her memoir, Young Love – An Adoptee's Memoir is a legacy for her family. It is also a story that supports fellow adoptees searching for family.
For over a year, prior to the publication of Young Love – An Adoptee's Memoir, Bonnie posted short stories on her website. She chose stories from her childhood and life experiences. They were fresh and untold and did not spoil the anticipation for her memoir. Overall, creating and maintaining a blog site while finetuning Young Love – An Adoptee's Memoir for publication was an exciting and rewarding experience.
Send A Little Love is a collection of her blogs. It also includes updates on her adoption story and newfound extended family! Bonnie's journey was not easy—there is sorrow in the loss felt by adoptees. However, with sensitivity and humor, she moves forward to recapture connections to her original family and heritage. This book will inspire adoptees of all ages and anyone touched by adoption.
An Adoptee's Search For Her History Brings Lasting Peace
Customer Review on Amazon.com
Review by: John P Henry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 7, 2023
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"Send A Little Love" explores the powerful emotions that Bonnie Parsons encountered during the successful search for her birth parents, which she described so well in her first book, "An Adoptee's Memoir".
If Bonnie's first book gave us the "how" –i.e., a tale of the incredible persistence and creativity it took to find her birth parents—then "Send A Little Love" finishes the story nicely by giving us the "why".
She describes why, despite her love and abiding respect for her adoptive parents, it was still so important for her to find her birth parents, and to discover the story of her past.
She describes how, even after becoming a mother herself and starting her own family she felt, in some deep way, untethered, unsure of where she belonged in the world. And so, her search began.
For those of us who have no experience with adoption, Bonnie explains how the process is a "triangle", one that includes the birth mother, the child, and the adoptive parents. All play a role in this emotion laden process, and the birth mother and child, who often spend intimate months together before the adoption, pay a special price. Their separation, when it comes, is painful for both, though the baby may not experience that pain in a conscious way until later in life.
In the end, Bonnie's story is a positive one, well told, making a strong argument for open adoption records as a way for adoptees to find out who they are, and from where they came.
One of my favorite sections is the account Bonnie's father shared about the summer idylls her adoptive family spent around lakes in Canada and Massachusetts. Reminded me of my own childhood family vacations in the UP of Michigan.
And in addition, the many family recipes she includes are a nice touch. The Spinach Puff was a big hit in my house. Give it a try.