A new MAMA

"History must be written of, by and for the surivors" - Anonymous

I wonder if such a thing exists. Or if it could exist?

It came to me in a dream over the weekend. I have been having lots of adoption related dreams lately and I am beginning to think the triggering event is that I am finally seriously working on an adoption related novel. I believe mulling over the many years of adoption trauma is causing more memories to surface.

I am managing them okay. Sleep can be fitful and I am bit distracted at times but so far, I am doing okay. It is not like days gone by where I was unable to eat, function, sleep and worse. I don’t have that waking terror feeling. I can put the feelings into an invisible fanny pack and go on with my day.

Over the weekend I dreamt of an adoption museum. It was odd, interesting, and I found myself waking and wondering if such a thing existed. In my dream I was walking right through it…looking at all the visual displays of adoption trauma. Thankfully, I awoke from the dream.

The more I thought about it afterwards the more I realized it should not be called Adoption Museum. Adopters and politicians would jump on it and use it as a chance to rant about the wonders of the American adoption machine. It must show the horrors of the machine much like the Holocaust museum in DC shows the horrors of that time in history.

Perhaps Family Preservation museum? Rape of the Soul Museum? Museum for Mothers and Children? Perhaps some variation of MOMA (not to be confused with Museum Of Modern Art. Maybe MAMA as an acronym for something?)

I see it full of Fesslers exhibits (quite powerful), Celeste Billhartz work, adoption music, Lina Eves work, my friend J’s exhibit that did interesting things with her birth certificate(s)…..poems, stories, pictures, music, for all to see. How about a single registry that you can walk into and do a look up on?

Do tell me, is there such a thing? If not, there should be, don’t you think? As a communications professional, I believe we need to utilize a variety of mediums to appeal to people. Some people are auditory, some are visual, some need to touch, feel and experience.

Hey, I heard the “Back to the Future Ride” was being shut down at Disney.  Imagine if we could give a person a VR ride of what it feels like to lose your child? Or how about the experience of having multiple names and identities?

The difference between the adoption VR ride and real life adoption is that the VR ride you can get off of. You can walk away from it. Its not real.

Adoption trauma never leaves you. And it is very very real.

Now about that museum…..

Comments

[Jane]

SUZ. In ALL Seriousness a museum must be created! WHY THE HELL NOT???? It would not only educate. It would have the potential to bring healing.

[Margie]

The VR ride would make people feel the pain, if only temporarily. And that memory would stay with them.

A film, Suz, would be powerful. You write that novel, and get it made into a movie. People might begin to get it then.

[Andie D.]

You're right. It never leaves. Ugh.

P.S. LOVE the new pic!