05 October 2011

Another Adoptee

The news of Steve Jobs’ death made me feel that it was just the extra punch in the stomach of a very bad day. But then, I watched his 2005 Stanford University commencement speech.

I discovered so many wonderful things about the man I had admired since my graduate days in 1990 and my first introduction to all things Mac.  I already knew he was a man who loved typography and design just as I did. But what I didn’t know was that he was adopted. He was loved just like I had been by two wonderful people who set aside the biology and went with their hearts.

In his speech, it was as though he were speaking directly to me and my day. Some of the words he told me, “Trust in the future … Follow your heart even when it leads you off the beaten path … Start over with the lightness of being a beginner again … Remembering I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered in my life … Death is a destination we all share. Death is the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent.”

My mother’s death changed my life, and now, his has also changed my life. Tomorrow will be a new day of discovery, invention and change.

As he said, “Love what you do. Keep looking. Don’t settle.”

3 comments:

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Anonymous said...

I've been reading your blog for a while now. I'm adopted too, from Korea, by Australian/Italian parents. Your blog voices all the thoughts and feelings that I've ever had plus many more that I'm sure I'll encounter once I have children. I too was surprised, and kind of inspired, to learn the Steve Jobs is also adopted.

Thanks so much for continuing to write.

mothermade said...

Miss Holiday, thank you for your comments. We are all connected by like experiences, and it is always so moving for me to know that I am not alone in mine.