Letting Go Again, A Birth Mother's Tale of Adoption, Reunion, Separation, and Growth, is one mother’s courageous and compassionate account of giving up her baby daughter for adoption, and their troubled relationship once they are reunited almost two decades later.
While many of us have witnessed the emotional “adoption reunions†on daytime TV, we rarely see what happens when the cameras stop rolling. In this compelling true story, author Kimberly Smythe reveals how the happiness and completion she expected to feel when her first child was back in her life remained elusive. Kimberly writes with extraordinary vulnerability, sharing the highs and lows of becoming a teen mother and allowing her child to be adopted, as well as the darkest moments of the heartbreaking, roller coaster relationship that followed when birth mother and daughter were reunited.
This is a dramatic and complex story in which mother and daughter are challenged on almost every level by the harrowing choice Kimberly made to give up her child. Intense guilt, self-punishment, and the heavy burden of regret and loss color Kimberly’s actions. She reveals how every cell in her body wants a loving connection with her daughter and the lengths she goes to make that happen. Sadly, blame, the years of separation and lack of shared history, thwart their efforts to heal their relationship.
As they both struggle with their complicated feelings it becomes clear that this is far from the stereotypical tale of redemption and reunion that Hollywood likes to portray. At times uncomfortable, at times poignant, this book is a searing account of one woman’s experience with adoption, reunion, separation and growth, which also raises important questions about motherhood, the effects of adoption, and our definition of family. In so doing it also challenges our perceptions about mother-daughter relationships, acceptance, surrender, and the true nature of love that finds the strength to let go… again. All proceeds from this book will go to support The Hanai Foundation.
