1 Change Our Stars by Isaiah Bell

When I think of a particular event in my life that shaped the person, I am today I think about the moment I was adopted. I was adopted in the year 2000 at the age of 5. The years leading up to this, I was in a lot of different foster homes with my sister who is two years younger than me and was adopted with me to the same family. My biological mom wasn’t able to care for us in the way that we needed, mainly because she was too young and immature to provide for us.

The family that adopted my sister and I were unable to have kids themselves, and this led to them adopting us. I can definitely speculate where I would be if I wasn’t adopted in that particular instance and that would most likely have been aged out in the foster care system and in not a healthy environment. Going to the family that I am with now is an amazing feeling because I can say that they chose me. I have been able to receive a proper education, have a family I can confide in, that show me unconditional love, and who I can lean on in times of need. What values and lessons I want to instill in my kids is that blood doesn’t always make family.

Looking at my life now I can definitely say that I have family that isn’t blood and blood that isn’t family. I want my future kids to know that no matter their past or current situation, it does not define who they are and can become. I think of the movie A Knight’s Tale where Heath Ledger’s dad in the film tells him that he can change his stars. I find that absolutely true today. Each one of us can change our stars.