I was thinking about my adoption recently and suddenly realized I basically pulled a full Annie moment on my parents. They weren’t Mr Warbucks level wealthy but they were comfortable, stable and kind in a way I wasn’t used to. They took me in as a foster kid when I was eleven and I connected with them almost immediately.

Around four months into living with them, I decided to do something dramatic in the only way an eleven year old knows how. I wrote an entire song, added my own little choreography and performed it for them in the living room.

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The whole thing was about wanting a real family and wanting a place to belong. It definitely was not Disney Channel material, but I poured my whole heart into it because I genuinely wanted to stay with them.

The wild part is that it actually worked. A couple of weeks later they sat me down and told me they wanted to adopt me. I remember feeling stunned and hopeful and terrified all at once. I asked them years later why they decided on adoption and they told me that my little song and dance completely touched them. They said it showed how much I wanted to be part of their family and how much love I already had for them.

So yes, I totally Annie’d my way into getting adopted. But honestly, I wouldn’t change anything. That messy little performance turned into a real family, real love and real stability. And maybe I wasn’t such a terrible songwriter after all.

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