Page 2- OUR STORY
(Joshua’s Comments)
My name is Joshua Garofalo. Being an adopted child makes me feel no different than any of the other kids. Although I may be of East Indian background, the kids accept me for who I am. I have a great family. In elementary school on my anniversary (of the day mom got me) she’d go to my class and talk about adoption, such as where I was from and how I was placed for adoption. She would answer any questions the kids would have.
When I went into junior high school some of the kids started calling me “Ghandi”, thinking they were making fun of me. It backfired on them when we did a unit in Social Studies on countries of the world and they found out who Ghandi really was. (A great man, so it was a compliment to be called that!) That soon became my nickname, till I started home schooling at the end of 7th Grade. There were a lot of discipline problems with kids at school and sometimes in math the teacher spend most of the time yelling at kids, so we didn’t have much time to go over the assignment. I soon learned that in a class of one, I get a lot more out of it and can learn at my own pace. Now in high school, as a freshman, I am a half-year ahead of the kids in public school. This is mostly because I work throughout the summer. My goal is to graduate at 17 or so.
I feel that my family is the one where I want to stay. I know that I am completely loved. Everyone in our family is loved differently because we are different people, but equally.
Don’t be worried if you’re afraid of what people may think or how they’ll accept your prospective child. Every child needs to be loved.
Please feel free to e-mail me with questions or comments at:
GHANDISMOM@prodigy.net