Published inAn Injustice!·PinnedBlack Babies Cost Less to AdoptWe were two months into our search for a baby when a friend of a friend told us how she and her husband had found their daughter a few years before. …Adoption5 min readAdoption5 min read
Nov 19, 2022Wondering If Denise’s Book Is Ever Getting Published? Girl, same.It’s been a minute. The last time I sent out a newsletter was, well, never. I was getting ready to in 2020 and then…2020. As many of you know, Pete and I divorced during the pandemic. Amicable’s not even the word. We’re still a family; we’re just no longer a…Publishing3 min readPublishing3 min read
Published inAn Injustice!·May 4, 2021Hate Asians? You’re Really Gonna Hate Dying.When I see racially motivated hate crimes on the news — like the recent spa shooting in Atlanta — I fast forward the life of the murderer in my head — Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May of 2020. …Asian American6 min readAsian American6 min read
Apr 6, 2021SEARCH HISTORY: A Memoir of Loss, Obsession, and Meeting My Mom at 44An Excerpt Growing up, describing the time before they brought me home, Mom had said things like, “A couple took care of you for us.” I imagined myself in a wooden cradle somewhere, with a satin-ribboned sign at the foot that read: “Going to Darrell & Virginia Skaggs.” I knew…14 min read14 min read
Jul 31, 2020We’re a Mask-wearing, Quarantining Family; We Vacationed in Zion National Park, and You Can TooLike many of you, we canceled our summer vacation, one that would’ve required getting on an airplane, back in April, when it became clear that quarantine wasn’t ending any time soon. In May, after two months of not leaving the house other than for grocery shopping (and sanitizing those groceries…Coronavirus6 min readCoronavirus6 min read
May 5, 2020As an Adoptee, I Knew My Son Needed These 5 Things From His Birth MomI was adopted via closed adoption in 1972, and forty years later, my husband and I adopted our son via open adoption. While I would search for, and find, my own biological mom shortly after bringing our son home, I grew up knowing nothing of why I was placed for…Adoption5 min readAdoption5 min read
