Oh, you didn't know about them either? Well, spoiler alert: Po's father, the Goose, adopted Po the Panda. Once Po found that out, he spends the rest of the movie asking the question "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?"
In Nick's and my review of the movie this morning, I kind of found that storyline to be a bit...dull. Maybe these questions are pertinent to adoptees of another generation, and maybe other parents now have a big reveal to their kids that they were adopted, but frankly, as a participant in an open adoption relationship, I just don't understand it.
We have a picture of Ray, Melissa, Ray's dad, and Bjorn (Ray's son) up in Alexa's bedroom. We're going to visit them in a couple weeks. They're apart of our lives, as is adoption, and they will all continue to be a part of our lives forever.
We may have to have a "Do you understand what adoption is?" talk with Alexa sometime in the future, but not a "You were adopted" talk like Po had with his father.
Do you know who else agrees with me on this point? Angelina Jolie (and I assume Brad Pitt), one of the stars of Kung Fu Panda. Below is a portion of an interview she had regarding the movie and they talked about how she plans on revealing to her kids they were adopted. I like her response at 1:09 in the video (apparently YouTube's queue feature isn't as awesome as open adoption).
It's interesting to me that adoption to people that aren't in it is such a thrilling storyline for movies and books. This whole self-discovery because one wasn't raised by their biological parents just doesn't resonate with me at all anymore. Why should Alexa be confused about who she is anymore than any other self-reflective child/teen? If anything I would think adoption provides more information for a child to discover their true identity as not only a child of God, but they're also a child to their birthparents, and a child to their adoptive family. Three sources of information from people that love her as their own child...that is/will be really nice.
What a blessing open adoption is!
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