[Betelnut]

I brought my daughter home from Guatemala about nine months ago, so it is all still sort of "new" to me. I am 46 and a single Mom.

At first, when asked, I would ALWAYS say, "She's my daughter...I just adopted her." After a few months, I realized that I was doing my daughter a disservice to always mention her adoption, especially to strangers. Just the other day, for the first time, I was content to give the simple answer and no more. Someone asked if she was my granddaughter or goddaughter (I get that a lot since I'm older). I just smiled and said, "No, she's my daughter." And left it at that.

If someone asks, point blank, if she is adopted, of course, I say that she is. I've also had people ask me "Where is she from?" and I'll say, "Originally from Guatemala."

But I realized that qualifying her as "adopted" every time was wrong. Strange that it took me a few months to really realize this. I think it was because she was so new to me and the adoption experience was still so intense in my mind. Plus, we are certainly an "odd couple" and, for some stupid reason, I felt like I needed to "explain" us. ("Odd" because I'm a white as a lily, "old" fat lady with an adorable, brown as a nut, little girl!)

But no more! Strangers don't need explanations! She's mine and that's it! Final!