Let me tell you a story
-Reed Jensen 1990
It’s happy, it’s sad but true,
A young girl made a mistake
Sadly found herself overdue.
Why? How? Frightened, alone
She cried a river of tears,
Support of family and friends
Helped east her pain and fears.
Many would seek an abortion
Then people would never know,
But she bravely stuck it out
Let her baby live and grow.
No way could she care for a child
She had a healthy baby boy,
She opted for adoption
A new family would be blessed with joy.
That little guy surely is happy
Never known anything but love,
And when his life is over
That’s what he’ll tell his Heavenly Father above.
This story doesn’t end here
It was repeated once again,
Her misfortune, troubles and tears
We all could feel her pain.
A beautiful little girl
To be given to another,
There was only one request
That she be raised with her brother.
Me! Well I am now their Grandpa
How lucky can I be?
Two little ones with their Mom and Dad
Make a loving family.
This story has no end
These kids will be A-Okay,
And everyone will remember everyone
and will thank everyone when they pray.
That poem was written by my cute Grandpa J aka Grandpa Jensen.
He wrote it for my birth mom shortly after I was born. Grandpa was big into writing Cowboy Poetry and often gave poem books out for Christmas gifts full of all of the ones he’d written. He’s written so many but this one will forever be my favorite.
It was pretty cool to see it pasted into my birth mom’s memory book. It was special to see that it was meaningful to her too.
I love the photo above of him with my daughter. His jolly little face was contagious and everyone wanted to be around him. He passed away in 2017 and I miss him very much.
As an adoptee there are always members of your family that you will naturally be closer too. He was one of those people for me, I never felt different when I was with him. We have a very large Jensen family with lots of cousins. But it didn’t matter if I was around him alone or with many cousins, I always felt connected too and important to him. It was hard to loose him not only because I felt so close to him but also because he was the last of my grandparents to pass away. I will always miss him and I’m so grateful he will always live on through his poems.
For everyone loosing somebody you love is hard.
For my own adopted self, loosing somebody who made me feel normal and less loss in the big ole world had a lasting impact on me.
I never would of thought after loosing my last Grandpa that I’d be gaining a new one just 1 year later. Time is the greatest thief but I’m grateful I get the honor of getting to know him now! This adopted life is a roller coaster but as always I’m still grateful I’m on it!
Love, Jenni
