November is National Adoption Awareness Month and that is what I’m currently most grateful for. I am so humbled and honored to have been a child of adoption.

My childhood social worker said I was raised in a den of vipers.  She was right!  I survived several attempts on my life & being sexually assault by men and women from the time I was four years old through the age of ten, was the norm.   I was shuffled between my mother and unsafe foster homes.  I’d gamble daily in the school cafeteria for food & would hoard it away for the dinner I might not have.  As a child of mixed race, I hoped for friends struggling to choose racial sides.  I found no safe place from the tortures of home, leaving me with life long medical side effects.  I had to cope with the loss of my 7 year old sister when I was only 6, it was heart breaking.  This is just a small glimpse into my pre-adoption life.

THEN Thankfully, I Was ADOPTED!

The Colonna’s,  my adoptive family, & Sand saved my life. Painting with sand was my healing art and the Colonna’s gave me a home.  Becoming part of a  “family” was incredibly difficult for me, but as an adult, I continue to be blessed by having a family of my own. The adoption experience provided an anchor of stability in my life that was foreign to me.  The experience taught me that no matter where you go in the world, true love is a well that never runs dry.

Ms. Rachel E. Milano

AKA: “The Sand Goddess”, “the Wagon Lady of Savannah Georgia”, “Fluffy”

Lifestyle Transitions Expert & Survivor Restoration Facilitator/  Founder of STOP~WATCH & Respond & REMWell Communications Non-Profit Org. Preventing Childhood/Adult Violations Through Survivor Restoration Services also Working on Educational Reform within society on the realities of living as a Violation Survivors.  She is an Author, Folk Artist & a MOM!  She is a mixed media visionary and philanthropist who loves life & is  dedicated to helping others discover life’s blessings and the challenges in acquiring them.