Opinion | The family history I never knew: How being adopted hid a life-saving clue

Mar 22

By Shara Cooper, Contributor

Shara Cooper lives and works in the West Kootenays, BC, and is working on a memoir.

Whenever a doctor asked about my family medical history, I waved it off with a flippant hand. As an adoptee from a closed adoption, I couldn’t answer. I would shrug and say, “I don’t know — I’m adopted.” I didn’t have any control over it, so I tried to let it go. How do you explain that your life began with a mystery?

Despite loving my adoptive family, I felt at times intense jealousy when friends introduced me to parents or siblings and I could see immediately that they were part of each other. Sometimes they looked alike, but more often it was the mannerisms — the gestures or mirrored laughs — that made me envious and wonder what it was like to see your lineage.

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Opinion | The family history I never knew: How being adopted hid a life-saving clue

Toronto Star

Shara Cooper MA, MFA

Shara Cooper is a writer, editor and independent publisher based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is the founder of Nordic Prairie Life and SCENE 49 and publishes The Boundary Sentinel, an independent news publication serving British Columbia’s Boundary region. Her work spans journalism, essays, culture, history and community storytelling, and her writing has appeared in various publications including the Toronto Star.

https://www.sharacooper.ca

Opinion | The family history I never knew: How being adopted hid a life-saving clue

Opinion | When it comes to grief, there is no substitute for showing up

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