Today’s a special day. Exactly 38 years ago I was adopted from Indonesia, at the age of only 5 months. From that time I grew up with my adoptive family. We lived in a small village in the south of The Netherlands.

I got used to not having anyone around who in some way looks like me. I don’t have my mother’s eyes, I don’t have my father’s nose. That’s just how it is. Sometimes people would say: “You look like your brother!” Uh yeah… my parents adopted him also indeed… but he’s VIETNAMESE. So I guess they just meant he and I are both Asian. Whatever. It’s obviously not the same.

Which makes having children of my own now all the more special. Seeing pieces of myself for the first time in another human being. In two human beings even. So please don’t ever hesitate to tell me, when you think the twins look like me. I simply love it.

From now on August 24th will no longer be just a celebration of getting adopted and growing up in this beautiful country with parents who gave me more than I could ask for. To me it will also be a day of honoring my blood relatives. Not only the ones living here – my beautiful twins – but the ones in Indonesia as well.