I have a lot of respect for my parents, but it's only as I've gotten older that I've learned to appreciate them. When I was younger I was unaware of what they did for me. But I'm not the only one, it's called emotional immaturity and the blindness of youth. Getting older can lead to a constant evaluation of the past based on new insights and understandings of life as we grow over the years. I respect my parents because they were so pure in their intentions. Part of that purity was due to their color blindness. I could easily have been another child writing this and that black child. Before my parents fostered an African girl, her name was Janine. We still have his photos. She was very dark, of the darkest African complexion. As I write this I wonder where he might be now. I can't remember why my parents couldn't adopt her but wanted to. I remember my mother describing how they adored Janine but how heartbroken they were when she was taken from their care. Now, as an adult, I look back and understand my parents' hearts and intentions. The symbolism of their desire to adopt an African child speaks volumes. The actions in the sentence speak louder than the words that come to mind. They didn't see color. It wasn't like they thought "oh, we have a black baby and people are going to stare at us." It wasn't the case that they didn't want a black child, but just a child with white skin. And I add that this happened a few years ago. I think the status surrounding transracial adoption has grown positively since then. The help of some celebrities who adopted non-white ethnicities probably helped. It's not a big deal nowadays and can actually be seen as a contemporary ploy especially if you're of the program...... middle of paper ...... would assume one of my parents was non-English. I think because I didn't and didn't look that different to a white English person, I didn't stand out or get attention for being different from other kids. My skin is very white, I just have dark hair and dark eyes. As for my brothers, I am of white English descent, well there are some questions about my brother Paul. I think if I remember correctly maybe there is some South African genetic background regarding his ethnicity, but it's not very obvious and they both have a much more English genetic heritage than me. My other brother Paul had dark brown hair and brown eyes like me, so that helped me guess. Overall I didn't feel the ethnic difference growing up. I knew I had Iranian biological parents but that knowledge didn't weigh on my mind and I didn't have the feeling of being different from other children.