Searching for Mom is a spiritual memoir. I want to be forthright in letting you know that. My story is about many things: my mother-longing as an adoptee and my search for my first mother; experiencing the premature death of my mom while trying to make sense of our complicated mother-daughter relationship; my struggles with faith as impacted by my adoption and some of the evangelical messaging around it; my battles with anxiety, perfectionism, and suicidal ideations; and my path to fully stepping into motherhood myself. There’s some grittiness in my story. There is also a lot of love and light in it.

My story happens to ultimately be a Christian one, but the book is not overly religious—at least not in my opinion. In fact, the “religious” storyline that I grew up hearing often landed pretty flat on my ears and heart. The God I ended up getting to know during my journey was not at all as I’d imagined, but actually a really funny and comforting, mothering God. Whether this early misperception of mine was because of the teaching, my personal sense of shame, or my own warped imagination, the answer is probably a little bit of all three.

To be clear, though, I’m not personally out to convert anyone to Christianity—or into becoming a vegan like me, or subscribing to my same parenting approach, for that matter. If any of my ideologies appeal or don’t appeal, I’m totally fine with that. I’m just glad for a chance to share my whole and complete story—every part of it, without keeping secrets about certain aspects of it. I’ve hidden important parts of myself for too long, and the story arc would be incomplete had I tried to censor myself in that way.

I am proud and thankful to have friends of many different spiritual persuasions. I’ve had Jewish, Agnostic, Atheist, and Christian friends alike as early readers. (My Muslim and Buddhist friends have not had a chance to read it yet.) I personally love to hear and read stories from other walks of faith, and appreciate readers who are willing to read about my journey, even if only certain parts of it resonate.

I think reading each other’s stories is one of the best ways to work toward empathy, peace, and harmony in this world we’ve all found ourselves in together. And I’m delighted to be on this life journey with you!