As a kid were you ever convinced that you HAD to be adopted?

I mean, really: how could you be related to your big-mouthed brother when you are so reserved and quiet? . . . Your math genius parents could never have produced your brain — a brain that can’t add up anything without using fingers and toes. . . . How can you be related when you can play almost any musical instrument and your sister is completely tone deaf?

As our personalities develop, as our individual quirks and oddities, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses reveal themselves, we begin to perceive ourselves as truly “different” from everyone else — even our closest family members. But that does not mean — even if you ARE adopted — that your family isn’t still your family. Despite all our differences, we are always co…