This year, as I celebrate my birthday on February 5th — and the final year of my 40s — I’m choosing to honor my life in a meaningful way.

Growing up, everyone seemed to have assumptions about adoption.
People spoke about it as something simple, positive, even beautiful.

But no one ever asked me what it was like.
And no one ever asked my first mother what it was like for her.

Being invisible, marginalized, and voiceless around my own story had a profound impact on my life — one that I’m only now fully understanding and reclaiming.

That’s why I’m raising funds for Adoptees for Family Preservation and the creation of a new investigative podcast called On Adoption.

This podcast will center the voices of adult adoptees and first/birth mothers — the very people who have been left out of the conversation for far too long. It will challenge the simplified, glossy narrative of adoption and invite people to look beyond assumptions and search for the truth, no matter how complex it may be.

If you love and support me, one of the greatest ways you can honor me this year is by helping give these women the voice that my mother and I never had — and by supporting work that seeks understanding, transparency, and family preservation.

Every gift, big or small, helps fund ethical storytelling, amplify silenced voices, and push this important conversation into the broader world.

Thank you for helping me turn this birthday into something that truly matters.

With love and gratitude,
Lilly

Lilly's Birthday